Forms: 1–3 béo, 3–9 bee (5 by, 5–6 be, 6 bey). Pl. bees: also 1–2 beon, 3–7 been, 4 bene, bein, 6 beene. [Com. Teut.: OE. béo = OHG. bîa (G. dial. beie), MLG. bîe, LG. bigge, MDu. bie, Du. bij, all fem.; ON. bý (? neut.):—OTeut. *bîôn- or biôn; beside which there is OHG. bini neut., MHG. bine, bin, fem., mod.G. biene:—OTeut. *bini; all going back to root bi-, perh. = Aryan bhi- ‘to fear,’ in the sense of ‘quivering,’ or its development ‘buzzing, humming.’]
1. A well-known insect, or rather genus of insects, of the Hymenopterous order, living in societies composed of one queen, or perfect female, a small number of males or ‘drones,’ and an indefinite number of undeveloped females or ‘neuters’ (which are the workers), all having four wings; they produce wax, and collect honey, which they store up for food in the winter.
a. 1000. Ags. Ps. cxvii. 12. Þá hí me ymbsealdon samod … swá béon.
a. 1100. Ags. Gloss., in Wülcker, Voc., 318. Apis, beo.
c. 1275. Pains of Hell, in O. E. Misc., 148. Þickure hi hongeþ þer ouer-al Þan don been in wynterstal.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 7113. In leon muth he fand, was slain, A bike o bees [v.r. bes] þar-in be-bredd.
1382. Wyclif, Deut. i. 44. As been [1388 bees] ben wont to be pursued.
c. 1430. Lydg., Bochas, I. xix. (1554), 35 b. A swarm of been entred on his head.
1481–90. Howard Househ. Bks. (1844), 207. Paid … to Jodge for a heve for beys iiij. d.
1535. Coverdale, Ecclus. xi. 2. The Bey is but a small beast amonge the foules, yet is hir frute exceadinge swete.
1538. Starkey, England, II. i. 153. Delytyng in idulnes as a drowne Be doth.
1609. C. Butler, Fem. Mon. (1634), 139. Whoso keep well Sheep and Been, Sleep or wake, their thrift comes in.
1697. Dryden, Georg., IV. 801. A buzzing noise of Bees his Ears alarms.
1855. Longf., Hiaw., XXII. 11. Passed the bees, the honey-makers.
b. Often used as the type of busy workers.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 445. Now ar tha maid als bissie as ane be.
1580. Baret, Alv., To Rdr. A great volume which (for the apt similitude betweene the good Scholers and diligent Bees) I called then their Aluearie, for a memorial by whom it was made.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., IX. vii. § 24 V. 137. The Popish Clergy … were as busie as Bees, newly ready to swarme.
c. 1720. Watts, Div. Songs. How doth the little busy bee Improve each shining hour!
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., III. 150. Busy and careful, like that working bee.
c. A model or image of this insect.
1816. J. Scott, Vis. Paris, 239. The remains found in the tomb of Childeric, were chiefly gold bees, from which Buonaparte took the hint of covering his mantle … with representations of that insect.
d. One of the southern constellations, so figured.
2. Applied to a large group of allied insects, chiefly with a distinguishing epithet, e.g., Humble Bee, Mason Bee, Carpenter Bee, etc.; in scientific use, including all insects of the Melliferous or honey-gathering division of the Aculeate (or sting-bearing) Hymenoptera, and comprising two families, the Social Bees or Apidae, and Solitary Bees or Andrænidæ.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 308. Feld beon huniʓ meng to somne.
1532. More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. (1557), 502/1. Till either some blind bettle, or some holy humble bee come flye in at their mouthes.
1802. Bingley, Anim. Biog. (1813), II. 275. The Garden Bee.
1847. Carpenter, Zool., § 697. Of the solitary bees,… there are many curious varieties; some of which go under the names of Mason, Carpenter, and Upholsterer Bees, from the materials on which they respectively work.
1861. Hulme, trans. Moquin-Tandon, II. V. ii. 279. The Humble Bees are larger than the Bees.
3. fig. a. A sweet writer. b. A busy worker.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v. Bee, Xenophon is called the Attic bee.
1791–1824. Disraeli, Cur. Lit. (1866), 319/2. A complete collection of classical works, all the bees of antiquity … may be hived in a single glass case.
4. In allusion to the social character of the insect (originally in U.S.): A meeting of neighbors to unite their labors for the benefit of one of their number; e.g., as is done still in some parts, when the farmers unite to get in each other’s harvests in succession; usually preceded by a word defining the purpose of the meeting, as apple-bee, husking-bee, quilting-bee, raising-bee, etc. Hence, with extended sense: A gathering or meeting for some object; esp. spelling-bee, a party assembled to compete in the spelling of words.
1809. W. Irving, Knickerb., Wks. I. 238. Now were instituted quilting bees and husking bees and other rural assemblages.
1830. Galt, Laurie T. (1849), III. v. 98. I made a bee; that is, I collected as many of the most expert and able-bodied of the settlers to assist at the raising.
1864. Miss Yonge, Trial, II. 281. She is gone out with Cousin Deborah to an apple bee.
1874. Frank J. Ottarson, The Spelling-Bee, in Osceola Democrat, 30 Jan., 4/1. She will hear about the spelling-bee before she goes to bed.
1876. Lubbock, Educ., in Contemp. Rev., June, 91. He may be invincible at a spelling bee.
1884. Harper’s Mag., Sept., 510/2. This execution,… in Idaho phrase was a ‘hanging-bee.’
5. To have bees in the head or the brains, a bee in one’s bonnet: i.e., a fantasy, an eccentric whim, a craze on some point, a ‘screw loose.’ (Cf. maggot, and F. grille.)
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VIII. Prol. 120. Quhat bern be thou in bed with heid full of beis?
a. 1553. Udall, Roister D. (Arb.), 29. Who so hath suche bees as your maister in hys head.
1657. Colvil, Whigs Supplic. (1751), 74. Which comes from brains which have a bee.
1724. Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc. (ed. 9), II. 119. But thy wild bees I canna please.
1845. De Quincey, Coleridge & Opium, Wks. XII. 91. John Hunter, notwithstanding he had a bee in his bonnet, was really a great man.
6. Comb. and Attrib. General relations: a. attrib., as bee-book, -comb, -garden, -grub, -house, -mouth, -palace, -sting, -swarm, -woman, -yard; b. objective with vbl. sb. or agent-noun, as bee-culture, -fumigator, -herd, -hunter, -hunting, -keeper, -keeping, -owner, -shepherd, -ward; instrumental, as bee-beset.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., III. IV. 383. The *bee-beset ripe-seeded grass.
1870. Lowell, Among My Books, Ser. I. (1873), 84. The teaching of the latest *bee-book.
1882. Harper’s Mag., Dec., 63/1. *Bee-culture is an important industry.
1609. Gd. Speed to Virginia, 13. The maister of the *bee-garden … reapeth a greater gaine by his waxe and honie.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., VI. xix. (1708), 201 (J.). A convenient and necessary Place ought to be made choice of for your Apiary, or Bee-garden, to place your Hives in.
1672. Phil. Trans., VII. 5060. The *Bee-grubbs actually feed on Mites.
1483. Cath. Angl., 26. *Beehyrd, apiaster.
1861. Pearson, Early & Mid. Ages Eng., 201. It was preferable to be tenant of a holding rather than a swine-herd or *bee-herd.
1675. Lond. Gaz., No. 987/4. A new Invention for the Improvement of Bees, by certain *Bee-houses and Colonies.
1851. Gard. Chron., 755. A very convenient *bee-house.
1776. Phil. Trans., LXVII. 44. The *bee-hunters never fail to leave a small portion for their conductor.
1839. Sat. Mag., 23 Feb., 69. The Economy of *Bee-Keeping.
a. 1821. Keats, Melancholy, 24. Pleasure … Turning to poison while the *bee-mouth sips.
1845. Gard. Chron. (1845), 171. Grove’s American *bee-palace is similar to the collateral hive.
1689. P. Henry, Diaries & Lett. (1882), 346. Your Mother hath been afflicted this night wth a *Bee-sting yester-evening in her cheek.
c. 1500. Cocke Lorelles B., 10. Mole sekers, and ratte takers; Bewardes.
1883. Green, Conq. Eng., 330. The *bee-ward received his dues from the store of honey.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Briery Creek, iii. 52. The *bee-women laughed in anticipation of their sport.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., I. 1009. The *Bee-yerd be not ferre, but faire asyde Gladsum, secrete, and hoote.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb. (1586), 179. About the *Beeyard, and neare to the hives, set flowers.
7. Special comb.: bee-bike (Sc.), a wild bee’s nest; bee-bird, the Spotted Fly-catcher, also a humming-bird; bee-bonneted a., having a bee in his bonnet, somewhat crazed; bee-cell, one of the hexagonal cells of the comb; bee-cuckoo, an African bird (Cuculus Indicator), also called ‘Honey-guide,’ which indicates the nests of wild bees; bee-driving, the driving of bees into an empty hive; bee-feeder, a contrivance for feeding bees within the hive; bee-fertilized a., (of flowers) having their pollen conveyed to the stigma by the agency of bees; bee-flower, a flower loved, visited or fertilized by bees, spec. the Wall-flower; also, a flower resembling a bee, the Bee Orchis; bee-fly, a two-winged fly resembling a bee, esp. certain of the Bombylidæ and Syrphidæ; bee-fold, an enclosure for hives; bee-glue, the glue-like substance with which bees fill up crevices, and fix the combs to the hives, propolis; bee-gum, a term in parts of U.S. for a bee-hive; bee-hawk, a bird of prey (Pernis apivora), also called Honey Buzzard; also a clear-wing hawk-moth (Sesia fuciformis), something resembling a wild bee; bee-head, a crazy pate; hence bee-headed; bee-larkspur (see quot.); bee-like a., resembling a bee; bee-line, a straight line between two points on the earth’s surface, such as a bee was supposed instinctively to take in returning to its hive; bee-maggot, the larva of a bee; bee-master, a keeper of bees, an apiarian; so bee-mistress; bee-nettle, species of Dead-nettle much visited by bees; bee-orchis, a plant (Ophrys apifera) noted for the resemblance of part of its flower to a bee; bee-skep (-scap), a straw bee-hive; † bee-stall, a bee-hive; bee-tree, a tree in which bees have hived; bee-wine, nectar of a flower. See also BEE-BREAD, -EATER, -HIVE, BEES-WAX, -WING.
1837. R. Nicoll, Poems (1843), 95. Nae apples he pu’ed now, nae *bee-bikes he knowed.
1789. G. White, Selborne, ix. (1853), 181. These vast migrations, consist not only of hirundines, but of *bee-birds.
1850. Browning, Xmas Eve & Easter D., 240. The bee-bird and the aloe-flower!
1856. Mrs. Browning, Aur. Leigh, i. 1097. Whom men judge hardly as *bee-bonneted, because he holds [etc.].
1868. Wood, Homes without H., xxiii. 427. The primary object of the *bee-cell is to serve as a storehouse and a nursery.
1786. trans. Sparrman’s Voy., II. 186. The *bee-cuckow (Cuculus Indicator) … deserves to have more particular notice.
1802. Bingley, Anim. Biog. (1813), II. 125. The Bee Cuckoo, in its external appearance, does not much differ from the common sparrow.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 12 July, 10/2. A sum of money which will enable then to give demonstrations of *bee-driving.
1881. F. Darwin, in Nature, XXIII. 334. The spread of the *bee-fertilised ancestors.
1852. T. Harris, Insects New Eng., 484. The *bee-flies … often hover … over the early flowers, sucking out the honey thereof.
1609. C. Butler, Fem. Mon. (1623), ii. E iij. The vnequall leuelling of the ground, in a great *Bee-fold is best.
1598. Florio, Propoli, that which Bees make at the entrance of the hiues to keepe out cold, called *Beeglue.
1658. Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 907. Wax, Bee-bread, *Bee-glew, Rosin, [etc.].
1884. E. Eggleston, in Century Mag., XXVII. Jan., 442/2. The bees were for the most part rudely hived in cross sections of the gum-tree, hollowed by natural decay; whence, in the South and West, a beehive of any kind is often called a *bee-gum.
1837. Macgillivray, Hist. Brit. Birds, III. 259. *Bee-Hawk is of rare occurrence in any part of Britain.
1857. Stainton, Brit. Butterfl. & Moths, I. 99. Sesia fuciformis, Broad-bordered Bee-Hawk.
1657. Colvil, Whigs Supplic. (1751), 135. Ye sectaries, quoth he, have *bee-heads.
1879. Jamieson, s.v., Ye needna mind him, he’s a *bee-headit bodie.
1846. Mrs. Loudon, Ladies’ Comp. Fl. Gard., 37. The *Bee Larkspurs … their petals are folded up in the centre of the flower, so as to resemble a bee or a bluebottle-fly.
1657. S. Purchas’ Pol. Flying-Ins., Pref. Verses. To the Learned Author of this *Bee-like laborious Treatise.
1823. Byron, Juan, XI. viii. That *bee-like, bubbling busy hum Of cities.
a. 1849. Poe, Gold-Beetle, Tales, I. 44. A *bee-line, or, in other words, a straight line, drawn … to a distance of fifty feet.
1870. Emerson, Soc. & Solit., x. 219. Men who, almost as soon as they are born, take a bee-line to the rack of the inquisitor.
1882. J. Hawthorne, Fort. Fool, I. viii. This disreputable clergyman would make a bee-line for Castlemere the moment the present lord of it was dead.
1679. Plot, Staffordsh. (1686), 221. Of the corruption of which *bee-maggots … are bred.
1658. Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 902. The *Bee-masters with clapping of their hands, and with the sound of the brasse.
1866. Rogers, Agric. & Prices, I. xviii. 399. The bee-master was apparently as rare as he is at present.
1859. Edin. Rev., CIX. 301. The *bee-mistresses … gain a living by their honey in many rural districts.
1597. Gerard, Herbal, I. ci. § 1. 163. *Bees Orchis or Satyrion.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, i. Not one in twenty of you knows where to find the … bee-orchis … on the down.
a. 1640. Day, Parl. Bees (1881), 44. And set fier of all there *Beeskepps.
1822. Steam-Boat, 83 (Jam.). My head was bizzing like a *bee-scap.
1572. Bossewell, Armorie, III. 18 b. The weasel … is … a destroyer of *Beestals, and cateth up their honey.
1849. W. Irving, Crayon Misc., 49. Honey, the spoils of a plundered *bee-tree.
1818. Keats, Endymion, IV. Honeysuckles full of clear *bee-wine.
