hive

See also hivé

English

Etymology

From Middle English hyfe, from Old English hȳf, from Proto-Germanic *hūfiz (compare Dutch huif ‘beehive’, Danish dialect huv ‘ship's hull’), from Proto-Indo-European *kuHp- (“water vessel”) (compare Latin cūpa ‘tub, vat’, Ancient Greek κύπη (kyphē) ‘gap, hole’, κύπελλον (kýpellon) ‘beaker’, Sanskrit kū́pa ‘cave’), from *kew- (“to bend, curve”). The computing term was chosen as an in-joke relating to bees; see [1].

Pronunciation

• IPA: /haɪv/
• Rhymes: -aɪv

Noun

hive (plural hives)

1. A structure for housing a swarm of honeybees.
2. The bees of one hive; a swarm of bees.
3. A place swarming with busy occupants; a crowd.
4. (computing, Microsoft Windows) A section of the registry.
   • 2006, Jean Andrews, Fixing Windows XP (page 352)

     Windows builds the registry from the five registry hives […]

Derived terms

• beehive
• hivemind
• mother-hive
• superhive

See also

• apiary

Translations

a box or basket for the reception and habitation of a swarm of honeybees — see beehive

Verb

hive (third-person singular simple present hives, present participle hiving, simple past and past participle hived)

1. (intransitive, entomology) To enter or possess a hive.
2. (intransitive) To form a hive-like entity.
3. (transitive) To collect into a hive.

   to hive a swarm of bees

4. (transitive) To store in a hive or similarly.
   • Byron

     Hiving wisdom with each studious year.

5. (intransitive) To take shelter or lodgings together; to reside in a collective body.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Alexander Pope to this entry?)

Derived terms

• hive off