skep
verbEtymology Late Old English sceppe, from Old Norse skeppa (“basket”). Cognate with Danish skæppe (“an old Danish unit of measure equalling 17.4 l”).
1
To transfer (bees) into a skep.
skep
noun/ˈskɛp/
Etymology Late Old English sceppe, from Old Norse skeppa (“basket”). Cognate with Danish skæppe (“an old Danish unit of measure equalling 17.4 l”).
1
A basket.
- Old women crouched over bags of Siamese rice, skeps of red and green peppers, purple egg-plants, bristly rambutans, pineapples, durians.1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 115:
2
A beehive made of straw or wicker.
- Three of the hives had been overturned and the others had been rocked to and fro. The modern hive is a fearful thing to upset; the combs are not static as in a skep, but hang loosely: when the hive is overturned they smash and pile up like a telescoped train.1958, John Crompton, A Hive of Bees:
- He prised a skep from its stool and held it out, inverted, showing the dirty wreck of combs, with the vile grubs spinning their cocoons.1977, Patrick O'Brian, The Mauritius Command:
1 more example
- She installs seven skeps at the furthest edge of the garden; on warm July days it is possible to hear the restless rumble of the bees from the house.2020, Maggie O'Farrell, Hamnet:
- Derived terms
- beeskep, bread-skep, skepful, skeppist