bee

[ bee ]

SEE DEFINITION OF bee

nounhoney-making, stinging insect
nouncollective task

Synonyms for bee

MOST RELEVANT

EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR BEE

A bee entered one of the chambers with a prophecy of flowers.

Napoleon withdrew his hand as sharply as if a bee amid the fruit had stung him.

I asked, for it might have been a bird, a bird-like moth, or a bee.

His palace was as yellow a home as a dandelion to a bee, but not half so sweet.

But the good ship sped like any bee that knows the way home.

He will commence with the celebrated Experience of the bee in the window.

As for having a bee in her bonnet that was beyond discussion, as clear as noonday.

The bee mite is very small, not more than one-fiftieth of an inch long.

I loved fussing with it, I shopped like a bee, and this kept me busy all Autumn.

Like a bee over a flower-bed, I went dipping and sipping at my treasure.

WORD ORIGIN

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.

bee

EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR BEE

WORD ORIGIN

MORE RELATED WORDS FOR BEE

caprice

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insect

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ridiculousness