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humblebee

[huhm-buh l-bee]
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noun Chiefly British.
  1. bumblebee.
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Origin of humblebee

1400–50; late Middle English humbul-be; akin to Dutch hommel drone, German Hummelbiene kind of wild-bee, Middle Low German homelbe; probably akin to hum
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for humblebee

Historical Examples

  • Humblebee and whortleberry for people that say Woos-ses-ter and Nor-wich.

    The Poet at the Breakfast Table

    Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

  • In the humblebee the tongue is longer, and it could more easily moisten the hind legs in the way suggested.

  • A humblebee, a wild bee that makes a great noise, S. Bumble-bee, id.

  • A humblebee from the Square Garden boomed in and buzzed idly round the room.

    Saint's Progress

    John Galsworthy

British Dictionary definitions for humblebee

humblebee

noun
  1. another name for the bumblebee
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Word Origin

C15: related to Middle Dutch hommel bumblebee, Old High German humbal; see hum
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