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bee

Pronunciation: /biː/
Translate bee | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of bee

noun

  • 1 (also honeybee or hive bee) a stinging winged insect which collects nectar and pollen, produces wax and honey, and lives in large communities.
    • Four species in the genus Apis, family Apidae, in particular the widespread A. mellifera
  • 2an insect of a large group to which the honeybee belongs, including many solitary as well as social kinds.
    • Superfamily Apoidea, order Hymenoptera: several families, often now placed in the single family Apidae
  • 3 [with modifier] a meeting for communal work or amusement:a sewing bee

Phrases

the bee's knees

informal an outstandingly good person or thing.
[first used to denote something small and insignificant, transferred to the opposite sense in US slang]

have a bee in one's bonnet

informal be preoccupied or obsessed with something: the country gets a bee in its bonnet about some failing in schools

Origin:

Old English bēo, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bij and German dialect Beie

bee in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of bee in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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