I. ˈhīv noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English hive, heve, from Old English hȳf; akin to Old Norse hūfr hull of a ship, Latin cupa tub, cask, Greek kypellon cup, kypros, a measure for grain, Sanskrit kūpa hole, cave, Old English hēah high — more at high
1. : a container for housing honeybees now usually consisting of a base, a lower rectangular hive body containing removable frames for brood, one or more upper supers that provide room for the storage honey, and a weathertight cover — called also beehive ; compare bee gum , skep
2. : the bees of one hive : a colony of bees
3. : something resembling a hive: as
a. obsolete : a head covering suggesting a plaited skep
b. : a dwelling place : a center of family life
forced out of the family hive by the excess of hands and the deficiency of land — H.E. Scudder
c. : a center of activity or a place swarming with busy occupants
the teeming hive of a great railroad station
a hive of political unrest
d. : a source or point of origin
the hive from which these barbarians came lay far to the north
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1.
a. : to collect into, place in, or cause to enter a hive
hived 7 swarms of wild bees
b. : to shelter in or as if in a hive
these rascals that the city hives
2.
a. : to store up in a hive
a strong colony in a good season may hive 100 pounds of honey
b. : to gather and accumulate for future need : lay up in store
why did they penuriously hive and distribute water — Norman Douglas
— sometimes used with up or away
hiving away the extra dollars
intransitive verb
1.
a. of bees : to enter and take possession of a hive
the swarm hived readily
b. : to reside or gather like bees in close association
the multitudes that hive in city apartments
2. : to secrete oneself or shut oneself up — usually used with up
hiving up in an old camp to sit out the storm
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: back-formation from hives
: an urticarial wheal : a lesion of hives