I. ˈhənē, -ni noun
( plural hon·eys or hon·ies -nēz, -niz)
Etymology: Middle English hony, from Old English hunig; akin to Old High German honag honey, Old Norse hunang, Latin canicae bran, Greek knēkos tawny, and perhaps to Sanskrit kāñcana gold
1.
a. : a sweet viscid material that is elaborated out of the nectar of flowers in the honey sac of various kinds of bees and stored in the nest for use during the winter as food for the larvae or especially in the case of the honeybee for the colony and that has a flavor and color depending largely on the plants from which the nectar is gathered with that of clover being especially esteemed by man for whom as for certain wild animals honey constitutes a favorite article of food — compare honeycomb , invert sugar
b. : a sweet fluid resembling honey that is collected or elaborated by various other insects — compare honey ant , honeydew
2.
a. : sweetheart , dear — often used as a term of endearment
b. : something superlative in appearance, excellence, complexity, or degree
a honey of a full-length coat … in white American broadtail — Lois Long
incidental romance and a honey of an Indian battle at the end — Muriel Burns
it must have been a honey with the complicated distilling columns, the automatic controls, the valves and pressure tanks — Joseph Starobin
if there is a postwar depression … it will be a honey — George Soule
3. : the quality or state of being sweet : sweetness : something that is sweet
coaxed him with honey in her voice
seduced by the honey of admiration
4. pharmacy : any of various preparations consisting of simple mixtures of medicaments with honey
borax honey
5. : a sweet syrupy liquid (as maple syrup) with a flavor resembling honey — see apple honey
6. or honey yellow : a dark grayish yellow that is redder, stronger, and slightly lighter than California green, redder, stronger, and slightly lighter than olivesheen, and very slightly redder than yellowstone — called also middle stone
7. : honey locust
II. verb
( hon·eyed also hon·ied -nēd, -nid ; honeyed also honied ; honeying ; honeys also honies )
Etymology: Middle English honien, from hony, n.
transitive verb
1. : to sweeten with or as if with honey
2.
a. : to call one “honey” as a term of endearment
their husbands were honeying … them all the time — Thomas Hart
b. : to speak ingratiatingly to : flatter
the station master … honeyed him up the steps of the last coach — Thomas Wood †1950
intransitive verb
1. : to use blandishments or cajolery — often used with up
by honeying up to his landlady got his socks darned and his buttons sewn on
2. : to be flattering or obsequious : fawn
rough to common men but honeying at the whisper of a lord — Alfred Tennyson
III. adjective
( hon·i·er -nēə(r), niə- ; hon·i·est -nēə̇st, -niə̇-)
Usage: adjective
Etymology: Middle English hony, from hony, n.
1. : of or relating to honey or its production
honey cake
2.
a. : resembling honey (as in color or sweetness)
among the walking shoes is one of honey or black alligator — New Yorker
the honey peace in old poems — Robinson Jeffers
b. archaic : dear
my good sweet honey lord — Shakespeare