bee 1
— beelike , adj.
/bee/ , n.
1. any hymenopterous insect of the superfamily Apoidea, including social and solitary species of several families, as the bumblebees, honeybees, etc.
2. the common honeybee, Apis mellifera.
3. a community social gathering in order to perform some task, engage in a contest, etc.: a sewing bee; a spelling bee; a husking bee.
4. have a bee in one's bonnet ,
a. to be obsessed with one idea.
b. to have eccentric or fanciful ideas or schemes: Our aunt obviously has a bee in her bonnet, but we're very fond of her.
5. put the bee on , Informal. to try to obtain money from, as for a loan or donation: My brother just put the bee on me for another $10.
6. the bee's knees , Older Slang. (esp. in the 1920s) a person or thing that is wonderful, great, or marvelous: Her new roadster is simply the bee's knees.
[ bef. 1000; ME be ( e ); OE bio, beo; c. D bij, OS bi, bini, OHG bia, bini (G Biene ), ON by; with other suffixes, Lith bìte, OPruss bitte, OCS bichela, OIr bech; * bhi- is a North European stem with the same distribution as WAX 1 , APPLE; put the bee on prob. an allusion to STING in sense "dupe, cheat" ]
bee 2
/bee/ , n.
1. Also called bee block . Naut. a piece of hardwood, bolted to the side of a bowsprit, through which to reeve stays.
2. Obs. a metal ring or bracelet.
[ bef. 1050; ME beh ring, OE beag, beah; c. OFris bag, OS, MLG bog, OHG boug, ON baugr, Skt bhoga-; akin to BOW 1 ]