honey

American  

[huhn-ee] / ˈhʌn i /

noun

• honeys
  plural

1. a sweet, viscid fluid produced by bees from the nectar collected from flowers, and stored in nests or hives as food.

2. this substance as used in cooking or as a spread or sweetener.

3. the nectar of flowers.

4. any of various similarly sweet, viscid products produced by insects or in other ways.

5. something sweet, delicious, or delightful.

   the honey of flattery.

6. Informal. a person for whom one feels love or deep affection; sweetheart; darling.

7. (sometimes initial capital letter) an affectionate or familiar term of address, as to a child or romantic partner (sometimes offensive when used to strangers, casual acquaintances, subordinates, etc., especially by a male to a female).

8. Informal. something of especially high quality, degree of excellence, etc..

   That's a honey of a computer.

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adjective

1. of, like, or pertaining to honey; sweet.

2. containing honey or flavored or sweetened with honey.

verb (used with object)

honeyed, honied, honeying

1. Informal. to talk flatteringly or endearingly to (often followed byup ).

2. to sweeten or flavor with or as if with honey.

verb (used without object)

honeyed, honied, honeying

1. Informal. to use flattery, endearing terms, etc., in an effort to obtain something (often followed byup ).

   They always got what they wanted by honeying up to their grandfather.

honey British  

/ ˈhʌnɪ /

noun

1. a sweet viscid substance made by bees from nectar and stored in their nests or hives as food. It is spread on bread or used as a sweetening agent

2. any similar sweet substance, esp the nectar of flowers

3. anything that is sweet or delightful

4. (often capital) a term of endearment

5. informal something considered to be very good of its kind

   a honey of a car

6. (modifier) of, concerned with, or resembling honey

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verb

1. (tr) to sweeten with or as if with honey

2. (often foll by up) to talk to (someone) in a fond or flattering way

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• honey-like
  adjective
• honeyful
  adjective
• honeyless
  adjective
• honeylike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• honeys
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of honey

before 900; Middle English hony, Old English hunig; cognate with Dutch, German honig, Old Norse hunang; akin to Greek knēkós pale yellow, tawny

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Explanation

Honey is the sweet, sticky substance that bees make from flower nectar. Most people like to put a little honey in their tea, but Winnie the Pooh likes to hoard it in a big pot. Honey comes in various consistencies — from almost solid, in honeycomb, to drippy and liquid. Bees produce honey and store it for food, and humans often take advantage of this, harvesting the honey for themselves. Honey is also a color, the golden shade of most honey, and a verb, meaning "to add honey," or "to make sweet." Since the 14th century, people have also called each other honey as an affectionate nickname.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

honey honeys honeyed honeying honied

Water has relatively low viscosity and pours easily, while honey and tar are much more viscous and move slowly.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026

Building on last week’s lesson, this soup starts in the oven, where carrots, sweet potatoes, scallions, miso, hot honey and a deliberately assertive amount of spice get deeply caramelized before ever meeting the stockpot.

From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026

For dessert, guests were served vanilla crémeux and White House-harvested honey ice cream.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

Instead, Blythe chose honey over vinegar and launched a lobbying effort to convince state legislators and the governor that the town needed some kind of economic rescue.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026

I pop the piece into my mouth and the chocolate gives way to a crumbly center that tastes like toffee and honey.

From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila

This countertop infusion machine automates every step—drying, decarboxylation, and infusion—letting you infuse oils, butters, honeys, and more without the usual guesswork.

From Salon ● Apr. 18, 2025

Vermont-based Runamok has a serious selection of honeys to play with: Try those infused with hibiscus flower, Arbol chiles or lemon verbena, to name a few.

From Washington Times ● Jul. 18, 2023

Vendors are hawking flower crowns, drinking horns, herbal tea blends and artisanal wildflower honeys while the pop-up taverns declaring “COLD DRYNKS” attend to parched wayfarers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 2022

A new ramp vinegar, called Zeal, is from Brightland, a company based in Los Angeles that gets its products, mostly olive oils, vinegars and honeys, from small producers in California and elsewhere.

From New York Times ● Mar. 21, 2022

To her, boy, to her, go to her.——That's it, little honeys, O that's it!

From History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

On a recent evening, from a seat at the restaurant’s fluted blonde-wood bar, I watched as a blaze of honeyed light poured through a wall of windows overlooking sloping vineyards and the Appalachian foothills.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

She explained that she and her siblings would deliberately choose long bedtime stories to spend more time listening to their father read aloud, describing his voice as "honeyed".

From BBC ● May 29, 2026

The honeyed harmonies of Li Saumet and Beto Montenegro, now intertwined until the end of time.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2025

Creamy, with a sweetness that flirted between honeyed custard and the milk leftover at the end end of a bowl of Cheerio’s — decadent, strange and oddly comforting.

From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2025

She swept from the room in a billow of silk and honeyed perfume, leaving a stunned Inej in her wake.

From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo

Russian Journey is his most interesting book to date and offers a penetrating glimpse of the enigmatic bear which is currently bent on retracting its claws and honeying up the world.

From Time Magazine Archive

Ay, but the young colt winced and whinnied and flung up her heels; and then the King came honeying about her, and this Becket, her father's friend, like enough staved us from her.

From Becket and other plays by Alfred Tennyson, Baron Tennyson

I’d always felt that way, too, till he come honeying round me this spring.

From Captain Pott's Minister by Francis L. (Francis Le Roy) Cooper

So she set briskly about her task, honeying Eugene the while, for she was confident that this above all things was the thing he needed.

From The "Genius" by Theodore Dreiser

But honeying at the whisper of a lord: And one the Master, as a rogue in grain, Veneer'd with sanctimonious theory.'

From Aspects of Modern Oxford by A. D. (Alfred Denis) Godley

Within hours Columbia Artists' Vice-President William Judd was on the transatlantic phone with honied words.

From Time Magazine Archive

And I, listening, Found not the salt of the whispers of my girl, Murmur of confused colors, as we lay near sleep; Little wise words and little witty words, Wanton as water, honied with eagerness.

From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck

Fly forth, dear Bees, 'tis morn, fly forth To South, to North, to West, to East; And cull from every fragrant flower A honied feast.

From Buzz a Buzz or The Bees by Wilhelm Busch

On seeing Mr. Hall the Angekok left his snow-platform, from which he had been speaking, and ran to him with the blandest smiles and honied words.

From North-Pole Voyages by Zachariah Atwell Mudge

Sleek from good living, his hood fell without a wrinkle over his portly person; and bowing in devotion before his superiors, the words of flattery flowed in profusion from his honied tongue.

From The Highlands of Ethiopia by William Cornwallis Harris

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