Pronunciations
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/ˈbiː/
Noun
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.
- Examples
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His face was belymmed as byes had him stounge[…].
An angry Wasp th'one in a viall had, / Th'other in hers an hony-laden Bee.
More examples (6)
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?
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.
Bees are the moſt excellent of all Inſects vvhatſoever, and expreſſe both vvorth and vvonder in all their vvaies: […]
He stood across in the other garden, beside a bush of pale Michaelmas daisies, watching the last bees crawl into the hive.
Bees pollinate many of the world’s crops—a service estimated to be worth $15 billion a year in America alone.
New insights into bee movements and life cycles have been uncovered after researchers tracked the insects using tiny QR codes glued onto their backs. […] “This suggests that most of the foraging that the bees do occurs very close to the hive,” study co-author Margarita López-Uribe, an associate professor of entomology at PSU, told CNN on Monday.
Any stinging flying insect, especially a wasp.
Usage- Informal
- proscribed
Noun
A contest, especially for spelling; see spelling bee.
- Examples
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geography bee
Hey, guys. Whoa. What are you guys doing? They're setting up in the gym for the Vision Bee. I signed our team up as "Sumo and the Laser Twins."
A community gathering to share labour, e.g. a sewing bee or a quilting bee.
- Examples
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The cellar […] was dug by a bee in a single day.
More examples (2)
There was but little variation in types of buildings in the pioneer period: house, church, store, barn and mill were usually much alike except in size, and a raising bee was the ordinary means of their erection.
Particularly resistant, for example, in many parts of northern Europe was the “spinning bee”, a nocturnal gathering of women to exchange gossip, stories, refreshment and – crucially – light and heat, as they spun wool or flax, knitted or sewed.
Noun
A ring or torque; a bracelet.
Usage- Obsolete
- Examples
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And kyng Arthur gaf her a ryche bee of gold and soo she departed
More examples (1)
...restoring unto the world much gold richly adorning his Sword, two hundred Rubies, many hundred Imperial Coynes, three hundred golden Bees, the bones and horseshoe of his horse enterred with him...
Noun
The name of the Latin script letter B/b.
- Examples
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More examples (1)
"The ee-vee-ee-ar-en-oh-ee-ell-blank-bee-ell-oh-ess-ess-oh-em-blank-en-ee-cee-tee-ay-ar is especially dee-ee-ell-eye-cee-eye-oh-you-ess." Our friends thanked the spelling bee for his help and then he buzzed off.
Noun
Any of the pieces of hard wood bolted to the sides of the bowsprit, to reeve the fore-topmast stays through.
Usage- plural-normally
- Synonyms
- bee block
Noun
any of numerous hairy-bodied insects including social and solitary species
a social gathering to carry out some communal task or to hold competitions