bee

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See also: Bee, bée, and béé

English[edit]

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Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

A bee

From Middle English bee, from Old English bēo, from Proto-Germanic *bijō (compare West Frisian and Dutch bij, Upper German Beie, Danish and Swedish bi), from Proto-Indo-European *bʱi- (compare Old Irish bech (“bee”), Welsh bydaf (“beehive”), Latin fūcus (“drone”), Latvian bite (“bee”), Russian пчела (pčelá, “bee”)).

Noun[edit]

bee (plural bees)

  1. A flying insect, of the superfamily Apoidea, known for its organised societies and for collecting pollen and producing wax and honey.
    • 1499, John Skelton, The Bowge of Courte:
      His face was belymmed as byes had him stounge […].
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.12:
      An angry Wasp th'one in a viall had, / Th'other in hers an hony-laden Bee.
    • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.12:
      Can there be a more formall, and better ordered policie, divided into so severall charges and offices, more constantly entertained, and better maintained, than that of Bees?
    • 2012, ‘Subtle poison’, The Economist, 31 March:
      Bees pollinate many of the world’s crops—a service estimated to be worth $15 billion a year in America alone.
Derived terms[edit]
terms derived from bee (noun)
Synonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
See also[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Possibly from dialectal English bene, been, bean (“help given by neighbours”), from Middle English been, bene (“neighbourly help, prayer, petition, request, extra service given by a tenant to his lord”),[1][2] from Old English bēn (“prayer, request, petition, favour, compulsory service”) from Proto-Germanic *bōniz (“prayer, request, supplication”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to say, speak”). Cognate with Danish bøn (“prayer”), Dutch ban (“curse”), German Bann (“ban”). More at ban.

Noun[edit]

bee (plural bees)

  1. A contest, especially for spelling; see spelling bee.
    geography bee
  2. A gathering for a specific purpose, e.g. a sewing bee or a quilting bee.
    • S. G. Goodrich
      The cellar […] was dug by a bee in a single day.
    • 2011, Tim Blanning, "The reinvention of the night", Times Literary Supplement, 21 Sep 2011:
      Particularly resistant, for example, in many parts of northern Europe was the “spinning bee”, a nocturnal gathering of women to exchange gossip, stories, refreshment and – crucially – light and heat, as they spun wool or flax, knitted or sewed.
Translations[edit]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 3[edit]

(Northern development of) Old English bēah.

Noun[edit]

bee (plural bees)

  1. (obsolete) A ring or torque; a bracelet.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book VII:
      And Kynge Arthure gaff hir a ryche bye of golde; and so she departed.
    • 1658, Sir Thomas Browne, Urne-Burial, Penguin 2005, page 16:
      ...restoring unto the world much gold richly adorning his Sword, two hundred Rubies, many hundred Imperial Coynes, three hundred golden Bees, the bones and horseshoe of his horse enterred with him...

Etymology 4[edit]

Variant spellings.

Verb[edit]

bee

  1. obsolete spelling of be
    • 1604 Reverend Cawdrey Table Aleph
      held that a ‘Nicholaitan is an heretike, like Nicholas, who held that wiues should bee common to all alike.’
  2. (obsolete) past participle of be; been
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

Etymology 5[edit]

Noun[edit]

bee (plural bees)

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter B/b.
See also[edit]
Translations[edit]

Etymology 6[edit]

Probably from an Old English word meaning "ring". See bow.

Noun[edit]

bee (plural bees)

  1. (nautical, chiefly plural) Any of the pieces of hard wood bolted to the sides of the bowsprit, to reeve the fore-topmast stays through.
Synonyms[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/bee
  2. ^ http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bee%5B3%5D

Estonian[edit]

Noun[edit]

bee (??? please provide the genitive and partitive!)

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter B/b.

Finnish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

bee

  1. bee (The name of the Latin-script letter B/b.)

Declension[edit]

Inflection of bee (Kotus type 18/maa, no gradation)
singular plural
nominative bee beet
accusative nom.? bee beet
gen. been
genitive been beiden
beitten
partitive beetä beitä
inessive beessä beissä
elative beestä beistä
illative beehen beihin
adessive beellä beillä
ablative beeltä beiltä
allative beelleˣ beilleˣ
essive beenä beinä
translative beeksi beiksi
instructive — bein
abessive beettä beittä
comitative — beineen

Usage notes[edit]

  • Speakers often use the corresponding forms of b-kirjain ("letter B, letter b") instead of inflecting this word, especially in plural.

Synonyms[edit]

Latin[edit]

Interjection[edit]

bee!

  1. baa (sound of a sheep)

Mandinka[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

bee

  1. (anatomy) vagina

Manx[edit]

Noun[edit]

bee m

  1. food
  2. provisions
  3. nourishment
  4. diet

Mutation[edit]

Manx mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
bee vee mee
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Verb[edit]

bee

  1. future tense of ve (to be)
  2. imperative of ve

Navajo[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Postposition[edit]

bee

  1. with, by means of, by means of it

Inflection[edit]

Navajo postpositions
singular duoplural
1st person shee nihee
2nd person nee nihee
3rd person bee
4th person (3o) yee
4th person (3a) hee
4th person (3i) ʼee —
reflexive ádee —
reciprocal — ahee

Old Irish[edit]

Verb[edit]

bee

  1. second-person singular present subjunctive absolute of at·tá

Tetum[edit]

bee

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Central Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *waiʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

Alternative forms[edit]

Noun[edit]

bee

  1. water (clear liquid H₂O)

Võro[edit]

Noun[edit]

bee

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter B/b.
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