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bevy

[bev-ee]
noun, plural bev·ies.
  1. a group of birds, as larks or quail, or animals, as roebuck, in close association.
  2. a large group or collection: a bevy of boisterous sailors.
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Origin of bevy

1400–50; late Middle English bevey, of obscure origin

Synonyms

1. covey, flight; brood. 2. assembly, company.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

gathering, assembly, crowd, cluster, flight, company, covey, collection, crew, band, troupe, party, flock, bunch, group, pack

Examples from the Web for bevies

Historical Examples

  • The beds and the bevies drove every higher form of art out of it.

    Heartbreak House

    George Bernard Shaw

  • After all it is not surprising that but three bevies remained of the sixty.

    Our Vanishing Wild Life

    William T. Hornaday

  • There are bevies of girls—all young, all pretty; and all, or nearly all, bubbling over with hearty and wholesome laughter.

    Over the Rocky Mountains to Alaska

    Charles Warren Stoddard

  • He saw them settle at last like quail among the stubble, curling up and crouching in groups and bevies, alert heads raised.

    Lorraine

    Robert W. Chambers

  • The crowd was pouring in from the cathedral, and bevies of priests, and scarlet choir-boys led by their fiddler.

British Dictionary definitions for bevies

bevy

noun plural bevies
  1. a flock of quails
  2. a group, esp of girls
  3. a group of roedeer
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Word Origin

C15: of uncertain origin
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 bevies

bevy

n.

early 15c., collective noun of quails and ladies, from Anglo-French bevée, of unknown origin. One supposed definition of the word is "a drinking bout," but this is perhaps a misprint of bever, from Old French beivre (see beverage). Still, it's possible that the original sense could be a company of birds gathered at a puddle or pool for drinking or bathing.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper