beeline
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of beeline
Explanation
A beeline is the swiftest, most direct route between two points. If you are shopping at the mall on a weekend afternoon and you see an empty parking space, you should make a beeline for it or risk circling the lot for hours. The word beeline combines the words bee and line. The idea behind the word is the belief that a bee, when it is done feeding, will take the shortest path back to its hive without delay or meandering. So beeline not only has the sense of being a direct route, but also that there is some haste behind the action. If you make a beeline for the chocolate at a party, you went straight to the dessert table without eating dinner first.
Vocabulary lists containing beeline
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the first, Portland All-Star Deni Avdija made a beeline to the rim.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 2, 2026
They made a beeline to the gift shop for the one prize more coveted than a green jacket: a garden gnome.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026
Villaraigosa flitted around the racers’ VIP tent, spotted a bowl of fortune cookies and made a beeline.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 16, 2026
And now among the western leaders making a beeline for Beijing is Sir Keir Starmer, the first British prime minister to visit China in eight years.
From BBC • Jan. 28, 2026
Her jumbled thoughts skittered like the marbles Jojo liked to play with as she made a beeline for town.
From "Stella by Starlight" by Sharon M. Draper
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
