bee /biː/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: beo ]
1 . a black and yellow flying insect that makes ↑ honey and can sting you:
a swarm of bees
a bee sting
⇨ ↑ bumblebee
2 . have a bee in your bonnet (about something) informal to think something is so important, so necessary etc that you keep mentioning it or thinking about it:
Dad’s got a bee in his bonnet about saving electricity.
3 . sewing/quilting etc bee American English informal an occasion when people, usually women, meet in order to do a particular type of work
4 . a busy bee spoken someone who enjoys being busy or active
5 . be the bee’s knees spoken old-fashioned to be very good:
She thought the party was just the bee’s knees.
⇨ ↑ spelling bee , ⇨ the birds and the bees at ↑ bird (3)