| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| bee1 |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  b |
| NOUN: | 1a. Any of several winged, hairy-bodied, usually stinging insects of the superfamily Apoidea in the order Hymenoptera, including both solitary and social species and characterized by sucking and chewing mouthparts for gathering nectar and pollen. b. A bumblebee. c. A honeybee. 2. A social gathering where people combine work, competition, and amusement: a quilting bee. | | IDIOM: | a bee in (one's) bonnet 1. An impulsive, often eccentric turn of mind; a notion. 2. An obsession. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, from Old English bo. See bhei- in Appendix I. Sense 2, perhaps alteration of dialectal bean, voluntary help given to a farmer by his neighbors, from Middle English bene, extra service by a tenant to his lord, from Old English bn, prayer. See bh -2 in Appendix I.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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