bee

[bee]

noun

any hymenopterous insect of the superfamily Apoidea, including social and solitary species of several families, as the bumblebees, honeybees, etc.

the common honeybee, Apis mellifera.

a community social gathering in order to perform some task, engage in a contest, etc.: a sewing bee; a spelling bee; a husking bee.

Idioms

have a bee in one's bonnet,

to be obsessed with one idea.
to have eccentric or fanciful ideas or schemes: Our aunt obviously has a bee in her bonnet, but we're very fond of her.

put the bee on, Informal. to try to obtain money from, as for a loan or donation: My brother just put the bee on me for another $10.

the bee's knees, Older Slang. (especially in the 1920s) a person or thing that is wonderful, great, or marvelous: Her new roadster is simply the bee's knees.

Origin of bee

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, OPruss bitte, OCS bĭchela, Old Irish bech; *bhi- is a North European stem with the same distribution as wax¹, apple; put the bee on probably an allusion to sting in sense “dupe, cheat”

Related formsbee·like, adjective

Can be confusedbe bee

bee

[bee]

noun

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

Obsolete. a metal ring or bracelet.

Origin of bee

before 1050; Middle English beh ring, Old English bēag, bēah; cognate with Old Frisian bāg, Old Saxon, Middle Low German bōg, Old High German boug, Old Norse baugr, Sanskrit bhoga-; akin to bow¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for bees

drone, bumblebee, party, harvest, social

Examples from the Web for bees

Contemporary Examples of bees

The Bees Laline Paull (Ecco) This arresting debut novel is a daring dystopian story set in a beehive.
The Best Fiction of 2014: Ford, Ferrante, Klay, and More
William O’Connor
December 7, 2014
When he struck, Brown wrote, “The bees will begin to swarm.”
When Robert E. Lee Met John Brown and Saved the Union
Michael Korda
May 15, 2014
Birds do it, bees do it, even educated flees do it—thousands and thousands and thousands of times a day.
How to Hitchhike a Plane—and Survive
Kent Sepkowitz
April 22, 2014
One Libyan intelligence source has likened it to a “swarm of bees” accepting a new queen bee.
Benghazi Suicide Bombing: Is Libya al Qaeda’s New Hotbed?
Jamie Dettmer
December 22, 2013
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 Millions
Marlow Stern
September 11, 2013

Historical Examples of bees

We are for you,—we trees and grass and birds and bees and flowers.
A Little Book of Profitable Tales
Eugene Field
They were densely crowded aft, and swarmed upon the poop-deck like bees.
The Uncommercial Traveller
Charles Dickens
"We've got the bees working overtime for us," a scout called back.
Pee-wee Harris
Percy Keese Fitzhugh
Did they not, at their own church, cluster together like bees, when they saw me enter it?
Clarissa, Volume 3 (of 9)
Samuel Richardson
For her he had robbed the bees' nest that very day, and I had but partaken of the spoil.
Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood
George MacDonald

British Dictionary definitions for bees

bee

noun

any hymenopterous insect of the superfamily Apoidea, which includes social forms such as the honeybee and solitary forms such as the carpenter beeSee also bumblebee, mason bee Related adjective: apian

busy bee a person who is industrious or has many things to do

have a bee in one's bonnet to be preoccupied or obsessed with an idea

Word Origin for bee

Old English bīo; related to Old Norse bӯ, Old High German bīa, Dutch bij, Swedish bi

bee

noun

a social gathering for a specific purpose, as to carry out a communal task or hold competitionsquilting bee

See spelling bee

Word Origin for bee

C18: perhaps from dialect bean neighbourly help, from Old English bēn boon

bee

noun

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

Word Origin for bee

Old English bēag; related to Old High German boug ring, Old Norse bogi a bow

BEE

abbreviation for (in South Africa)

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bees

bee

stinging insect, Old English beo "bee," from Proto-Germanic *bion (cf. Old Norse by, Old High German bia, Middle Dutch bie), possibly from PIE root *bhi- "quiver." Used metaphorically for "busy worker" since 1530s.

Sense of "meeting of neighbors to unite their labor for the benefit of one of their number," 1769, American English, probably is from comparison to the social activity of the insect; this was extended to other senses (e.g. spelling bee, first attested 1809; Raising-bee (1814) for building construction; also hanging bee "a lynching"). To have a bee in (one's) bonnet (1825), said of one who is harebrained or has an intense new notion or fancy, is said in Jamieson to be Scottish, perhaps from earlier expressions such as head full of bees (1510s), denoting mad mental activity.

Idioms and Phrases with bees

bee

In addition to the idiom beginning with bee

bee in one's bonnet
been around
been had
been there, done that
been to the wars

also see:

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