hive
[hahyv]
- to gather into or cause to enter a hive.
- to shelter as in a hive.
- to store up in a hive.
- to store or lay away for future use or enjoyment.
- (of bees) to enter a hive.
- to live together in or as in a hive.
- hive off, British. to become transferred from the main body of a commercial or industrial enterprise through the agency of new ownership.
Origin of hive
before 900; Middle English; Old English hȳf; akin to Old Norse hūfr ship's hull, Latin cūpa vat
Synonyms
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com4. hub, center.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for hive
Contemporary Examples
The drones, as it were, had to rest at their stations, constantly maintaining the hive for the greater good.
The Secret Soviet Power Bunker—in Latvia, a Hiding Place for the EliteBrandon Presser
September 25, 2014
When Ali Salameh arrived at Black September headquarters in Beirut, he found a hive of furious activity.
Mossad’s Greatest Female Assassin: An Excerpt From ‘Sylvia Rafael’Ram Oren, Moti Kfir
September 20, 2014
Since the mid-19th century, Sicily has been known as a hive of Mafioso activity.
This conservative, evangelical megachurch, just outside San Diego, is a hive of activity on a Sunday morning.
Burt called on his beekeeper pal, who scooped up the bees from the fencepost with his bare hands, and dumped them into a hive.
Burt’s Bees Co-Founder Burt Shavitz on the Doc ‘Burt’s Buzz,’ and Losing MillionsMarlow Stern
September 11, 2013
Historical Examples
The operating-room was a hive of industry, and tongues kept pace with fingers.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
And Damascus is the very 309 hive of turbans, green and otherwise.
The Book of KhalidAmeen Rihani
Another way is to invert the hive in which the united swarms are to live, and strike the bees of the other hive into it as before.
If any bees remain in the box when taken away, a little smoke will drive them out, and they will quickly return to their own hive.
But, as there is no natural ruler of the hive, they meet together and make laws.
StatesmanPlato
hive
- a structure in which social bees live and rear their young
- a colony of social bees
- a place showing signs of great industry (esp in the phrase a hive of activity)
- a teeming crowd; multitude
- an object in the form of a hive
- to cause (bees) to collect or (of bees) to collect inside a hive
- to live or cause to live in or as if in a hive
- (tr) (of bees) to store (honey, pollen, etc) in the hive
- (tr; often foll by up or away) to store, esp for future usehe used to hive away a small sum every week
Word Origin
Old English hӯf; related to Westphalian hüwe, Old Norse hūfr ship's hull, Latin cūpa barrel, Greek kupē, Sanskrit kūpa cave
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for hive
n.
Old English hyf "beehive," from Proto-Germanic *hufiz (cf. Old Norse hufr "hull of a ship"), from PIE *keup- "round container, bowl" (cf. Sanskrit kupah "hollow, pit, cave," Greek kypellon "cup," Latin cupa "tub, cask, vat"). Figurative sense of "swarming, busy place" is from 1630s. As a verb, of bees, etc., "to form themselves into a hive," c.1400; "to put bees in a hive," mid-15c.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper