apiary
Americannoun
-
apiaries
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of apiary
1645–55; < Latin apiārium beehive, equivalent to api ( s ) bee + -ārium -ary
Explanation
An apiary is a structure for keeping bees. If you love to eat fresh honey and don't have access to a farmer's market, you might consider building an apiary in your backyard. Apiaries have nothing to do with apes! Rather, the word derives from apis, the Latin word for "bee." Humans have raised bees for their honey for thousands of years; the oldest known apiaries were built by ancient Egyptians. The word itself didn't appear until the 1650s, around the time that apiarists, or beekeepers, started constructing apiaries resembling the ones in current use. Today, there are apiaries of various sizes on every continent and in every U.S. state.
Vocabulary lists containing apiary
"St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" by Karen Russell
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The Secret Life of Bees
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This Week In Culture, September 7–13, 2019
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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.
See Examples For:
Run by chemistry teacher Justin Wade, the club regularly has eight pupils who look after it's apiary and learn about the life of bees.
From BBC ● May 14, 2026
"We are so fortunate to be able to work with the Pennsylvania beekeepers, who every year answer a survey on their management practices, their bees' winter survival and their apiary locations," Grozinger said.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 4, 2024
The farm also has an apiary operation that produces incredible honey, two rescue steers, and a smattering of laying hens.
From Salon ● May 2, 2024
Once the weather warms up, Davis plans to take them to his apiary in Thermal, where he will release them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2024
Ap′iarist, one who keeps an apiary: one who studies the habits of bees.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various
Grozinger noted that in managed apiaries, honey bee colonies are often placed very close together, and the bees can transmit viruses by drifting into each other's colonies or by foraging on the same flowers.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 14, 2023
The plan was equally straightforward: Community-owned farms would feed everyone and fund additional industries, including apiaries, hatcheries, canneries, smithies, brickyards and even a film studio.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2023
To provide the honey for his range of meads Mr Cooper is also a professional beekeeper, who looks after more than 500 hives at 50 different locations or apiaries across Wales.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2021
Two floors are occupied by the North Lawndale Employment Network, which helps residents find jobs and operates Sweet Beginnings, a program that trains formerly incarcerated residents to become beekeepers at local apiaries.
From New York Times ● Mar. 12, 2019
As soon as this was completed, he began making fifty additional concrete apiaries.
From Hidden Treasure by John Thomas Simpson
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.
