bee
noun/ˈbiː/
Etymology
From Middle English be, bee, beo, bey, from Old English bēo, bīo (“bee”), from Proto-West Germanic *bijā, from Proto-Germanic *bijǭ (“bee”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰey- (“bee”). Cognates Cognate with Yola been (“bees”), North Frisian bi (“bee”), West Frisian bij (“bee”), Dutch bij, by (“bee”), German Biene (“bee”), Limburgish Bé, bie (“bee”), Luxembourgish Bei (“bee”), Vilamovian byn (“bee”), West Flemish bieë (“bee”), Yiddish בין (bin, “bee”), Danish and Swedish bi (“bee”), Faroese býfluga (“bee”), Icelandic bý, býfluga (“bee”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk bie (“bee”); also Irish beach, meach (“bee”), Scottish Gaelic beach (“bee; beehive; wasp”), Latin fūcus (“bee”), Latvian bite (“bee”), Lithuanian bitė (“bee”), Belarusian пчала́ (pčalá, “bee”), Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Russian пчела́ (pčelá, “bee”), Czech včála, včela (“bee”), Polish pszczoła (“bee”), Serbo-Croatian пчѐла, bčela, pčèla (“bee”), Slovak včela (“bee”), Slovene čebela (“bee”), Ukrainian бджола́ (bdžolá, “bee”), Ossetian биндзӕ (binʒæ), бындз (bynʒ, “fly”), Pashto وينه (waynë́, wenë́, wuynë́, “termite; white ant”).
A flying insect, of the clade Anthophila within the hymenopteran superfamily Apoidea, known for its organised societies (though only a minority have them), for collecting pollen and (in some species) producing wax and honey.
- His face was belymmed as byes had him stounge[…].1499, John Skelton, The Bowge of Courte:
- An angry Wasp th'one in a viall had, / Th'other in hers an hony-laden Bee.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
4 more examples
- Can there be a more formall, and better ordered policie, divided into so severall charges and offices, more constantly entertained, and better maintained, than that of Bees?1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
- Ariell: / Where the Bee ſucks, there ſuck I, / In a Cowslips bell, I lie, / There I cowch when Owles doe crie, / On the Batts backe I doe flie / after Sommer merrily. / Merrily, merrily, ſhall I liue now / Vnder the bloſſom that hangs on the Bow.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 17:
- Bees are the moſt excellent of all Inſects vvhatſoever, and expreſſe both vvorth and vvonder in all their vvaies: […]1657, Samuel Purchas, “The Excellency of Bees”, in A Theatre of Politicall Flying-Insects. […], London: […] R. I. for Thomas Parkhurst, […], →OCLC, page 1:
- He stood across in the other garden, beside a bush of pale Michaelmas daisies, watching the last bees crawl into the hive.1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “chapter 12”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:
Informal, Proscribed Any stinging flying insect, especially a wasp.
- Synonyms
- king of insects
- Derived terms
149 terms
Africanized bee, Africanized honey bee, alkali bee, antibee, apple-bee, apple bee, artificial bee colony, bee assassin, bee ball, bee balm, bee baw babbity, bee beard, bee bearding, bee beetle, bee bite, bee-brained, bee-bread, bee bread, beebrush, bee candy, beedom, bee-eater, bee farm, beefarm, beefarming, bee farming, bee fly, bee glue, bee gum, bee hawkmoth, beeherd, beehive, bee-hive, beehood, bee hoon, bee hotel, beehouse, bee hummingbird, bee in one's bonnet, beeish, beekeeper, beekeeping, beekind, beeless, beelike, beeline, bee-line, beeling, bee louse, beely, beemageddon, beeman, beemaster, bee moth, beemother, bee mother, bee orchid, bee pirate, bee plant, beepocalypse, beeproof, bee purple, bee sage, beeskep, bee's knees, bee sting, bee-stung, beeswarm, beeswax, beeswing, Beetown, bee tree, bee up one's ass, bee-utiful, bee vacuum, bee violet, bee wine, bee wolf, beewort, beey, beeyard, black bee, blood bee, blue-cheeked bee-eater, bumble bee, bumblebee, bumble-bee, busy as a bee, busy bee, carder bee, carpenter bee, chronic bee paralysis virus, Chronic bee paralysis virus, common carder bee, coppice mining bee, cuckoo bee, digger bee, dog-bee, European bee-eater, European dark bee, follow the bee, gold bee, green bee-eater, have a bee in your bonnet, hive bee, honey bee, honeybee, horse-bee, humble-bee, Italian bee, Kashmir bee hawkmoth, ke-mo sah-bee, killer bee, leaf-cutter bee, leafcutter bee, leaf-cutting bee, like a bee in clover, little green bee-eater, long-faced miner bee, masked bee, mason bee, meat bee, mining bee, mumble-bee, nameless bee disease, nanobee, orchid bee, plasterer bee, poppy bee, put the bee on, queen bee, queen bee acid, quilting bee, resin bee, rock bee, sand bee, southeastern blueberry bee, spotted bee balm, squash and gourd bee, squash bee, stingless bee, sting like a bee, sweat bee, upholsterer bee, violet carpenter bee, vulture bee, Wallace's giant bee, worker bee, working bee- Related terms
54 terms
Beowulf, apiology, apiculture, beekeeping, worker bee, worker, queen bee, queen, drone, beehive, eusocial, hive, swarm, tremble dance, waggle dance, corbicula, sarothrum, scopa, sting, ambrosia, beebread, beeswax, honey, honeycomb, propolis, royal jelly, apitherapy, apiary, beehouse, skep, Langstroth hive, super, queen-cage, bee escape, duplet, honey extractor, topbar, bee smoker, apidictor, chalkbrood, colony collapse disorder, foulbrood, nosema, sacbrood, stonebrood, varroa, apian, apiarian, apiarist, apimania, dumbledore, hornet, pollinator, wasp- Hypernyms
- pollinator