bee

¹ American  

[bee] / bi /

noun

1. any hymenopterous insect of the superfamily Apoidea, including social and solitary species of several families, as the bumblebee, honeybee, etc.

2. the common honeybee, Apis mellifera.

3. a community social gathering in order to perform some task, engage in a contest, etc..

   a sewing bee;

   a spelling bee;

   a husking bee.

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idioms

1. have a bee in one's bonnet,

   1. to be obsessed with one idea.

   2. to have eccentric or fanciful ideas or schemes.

      Our aunt obviously has a bee in her bonnet, but we're very fond of her.

2. the bee's knees,  (especially in the 1920s) a person or thing that is wonderful, great, or marvelous.

   Her new roadster is simply the bee's knees.

3. put the bee on,  to try to obtain money from, as for a loan or donation.

   My brother just put the bee on me for another $10.

bee ² American  

[bee] / bi /

noun

1. Also called bee block.  Nautical.  a piece of hardwood, bolted to the side of a bowsprit, through which to reeve stays.

2. Obsolete.  a metal ring or bracelet.

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B.E.E. ³ American  

abbreviation

1. Bachelor of Electrical Engineering.

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bee ¹ British  

/ biː /

noun

1. any hymenopterous insect of the superfamily Apoidea , which includes social forms such as the honeybee and solitary forms such as the carpenter bee See also bumblebee mason bee

2. a person who is industrious or has many things to do

3. to be preoccupied or obsessed with an idea

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bee ² British  

/ biː /

noun

1. a social gathering for a specific purpose, as to carry out a communal task or hold competitions

   quilting bee

2. See spelling bee

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BEE ³ British  

abbreviation

1. Black Economic Empowerment: a government policy aimed at encouraging and supporting shareholding by black people

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bee ⁴ British  

/ biː /

noun

1. nautical a small sheave with one cheek removed and the pulley and other cheek fastened flat to a boom or another spar, used for reeving outhauls or stays

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bee More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing bee

• birds and the bees
• busy as a beaver (bee)
• make a beeline for
• none of one's business (beeswax)

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Other Word Forms

• beelike adjective

Etymology

Origin of bee¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English be(e); Old English bīo, bēo; cognate with Dutch bij, Old Saxon bī, bini, Old High German bīa, bini ( German Biene ), Old Norse bȳ; with other suffixes, Lithuanian bìtė, Old Prussian bitte, Old Church Slavonic bĭchela, Old Irish bech; the unattested bhi- is a North European stem with the same distribution as wax ¹, apple; put the bee on is probably an allusion to sting in sense “dupe, cheat”

Origin of bee²

First recorded before 1050; Middle English bei, be, bih “ring,” Old English bēag, bēah, bēg; cognate with Old Frisian bāg, Old Saxon, Middle Low German bōg, Old High German boug, Old Norse baugr, Sanskrit bhoga-; akin to bow ¹

Example Sentences

Drapes from Sandringham House in Norfolk have been recycled into 25 stockings by a sewing bee group.

From BBC

"I discovered the species while surveying a rare plant in the Goldfields and noticed this bee visiting both the endangered wildflower and a nearby mallee tree," Dr. Prendergast said.

From Science Daily

What sounds like the storyline of a medieval palace drama often plays out in real-life honey bee colonies.

From Science Daily

To mark Manchester's first ever Brit Awards ceremony, designer Matthew Williamson has created an amber resin trophy - inspired by his own Manchester roots, and the worker bee, the city's mascot.

From BBC

On the other side sits Ainsley, who would lose a grade-school spelling bee to a bag of hair extensions yet manages to get into college as a cheerleading squad walk-on.

From Salon