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Synonyms for bee

Grammar : Noun
Spell : bee
Phonetic Transcription : bi

Définition of bee

Origin :
  • stinging insect, Old English beo "bee," from Proto-Germanic *bion (cf. Old Norse by, Old High German bia, Middle Dutch bie), possibly from PIE root *bhi- "quiver." Used metaphorically for "busy worker" since 1530s.
  • Sense of "meeting of neighbors to unite their labor for the benefit of one of their number," 1769, American English, probably is from comparison to the social activity of the insect; this was extended to other senses (e.g. spelling bee, first attested 1809; Raising-bee (1814) for building construction; also hanging bee "a lynching"). To have a bee in (one's) bonnet (1825), said of one who is harebrained or has an intense new notion or fancy, is said in Jamieson to be Scottish, perhaps from earlier expressions such as head full of bees (1510s), denoting mad mental activity.
  • noun honey-making, stinging insect
  • noun collective task
Example sentences :
  • A bee entered one of the chambers with a prophecy of flowers.
  • Extract from : « Buds and Bird Voices (From "Mosses From An Old Manse") » by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • Napoleon withdrew his hand as sharply as if a bee amid the fruit had stung him.
  • Extract from : « The Boy Life of Napoleon » by Eugenie Foa
  • I asked, for it might have been a bird, a bird-like moth, or a bee.
  • Extract from : « Green Mansions » by W. H. Hudson
  • His palace was as yellow a home as a dandelion to a bee, but not half so sweet.
  • Extract from : « Old Greek Folk Stories Told Anew » by Josephine Preston Peabody
  • But the good ship sped like any bee that knows the way home.
  • Extract from : « Old Greek Folk Stories Told Anew » by Josephine Preston Peabody
  • He will commence with the celebrated Experience of the bee in the window.
  • Extract from : « The Uncommercial Traveller » by Charles Dickens
  • As for having a bee in her bonnet that was beyond discussion, as clear as noonday.
  • Extract from : « The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete » by Emile Zola
  • The bee mite is very small, not more than one-fiftieth of an inch long.
  • Extract from : « Scientific American Supplement, No. 417 » by Various
  • I loved fussing with it, I shopped like a bee, and this kept me busy all Autumn.
  • Extract from : « The Harbor » by Ernest Poole
  • Like a bee over a flower-bed, I went dipping and sipping at my treasure.
  • Extract from : « Wilfrid Cumbermede » by George MacDonald

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Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019