beeline
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of beeline
Explanation
A beeline is the swiftest, most direct route between two points. If you are shopping at the mall on a weekend afternoon and you see an empty parking space, you should make a beeline for it or risk circling the lot for hours. The word beeline combines the words bee and line. The idea behind the word is the belief that a bee, when it is done feeding, will take the shortest path back to its hive without delay or meandering. So beeline not only has the sense of being a direct route, but also that there is some haste behind the action. If you make a beeline for the chocolate at a party, you went straight to the dessert table without eating dinner first.
Vocabulary lists containing beeline
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Mostly dressed in variations of dark jackets and trousers, long scarves and open-neck shirts, he would often make a beeline for the media scrum outside the courthouse.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
We reach Mons and the impressive Grand-Place, where several young people, recognising him from his Instagram account, make a beeline for him.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
And they’re part of a group of players who could make a beeline from NFL training camps to college campuses—and NIL paydays.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Then I made a beeline for the heirloom tomatoes.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
A couple of people ask if we’re okay, but most just make a beeline around us as if we’re just another object in the obstacle course that is New York City.
From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
