Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

hive

[hahyv]
See more synonyms for hive on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a shelter constructed for housing a colony of honeybees; beehive.
  2. the colony of bees inhabiting a hive.
  3. something resembling a beehive in structure or use.
  4. a place swarming with busy occupants: a hive of industry.
  5. a swarming or teeming multitude.
Show More
verb (used with object), hived, hiv·ing.
  1. to gather into or cause to enter a hive.
  2. to shelter as in a hive.
  3. to store up in a hive.
  4. to store or lay away for future use or enjoyment.
Show More
verb (used without object), hived, hiv·ing.
  1. (of bees) to enter a hive.
  2. to live together in or as in a hive.
Show More
Verb Phrases
  1. hive off, British. to become transferred from the main body of a commercial or industrial enterprise through the agency of new ownership.
Show More

Origin of hive

before 900; Middle English; Old English hȳf; akin to Old Norse hūfr ship's hull, Latin cūpa vat
Related formshive·less, adjectivehive·like, adjectivehiv·er, noun

Synonyms

See more synonyms for hive on Thesaurus.com
4. hub, center.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for hive off

hive off

verb (adverb)
  1. to transfer or be transferred from a larger group or unit
  2. (usually tr) to transfer (profitable activities of a nationalized industry) back to private ownership
Show More

hive

noun
  1. a structure in which social bees live and rear their young
  2. a colony of social bees
  3. a place showing signs of great industry (esp in the phrase a hive of activity)
  4. a teeming crowd; multitude
  5. an object in the form of a hive
Show More
verb
  1. to cause (bees) to collect or (of bees) to collect inside a hive
  2. to live or cause to live in or as if in a hive
  3. (tr) (of bees) to store (honey, pollen, etc) in the hive
  4. (tr; often foll by up or away) to store, esp for future usehe used to hive away a small sum every week
Show More
Derived Formshivelike, adjective

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for hive off

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.

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper