king been.
/ˌkɪŋ ˈbiː/, U.S. /ˌkɪŋ ˈbi/ 1. A queen bee. Cf. king n. 9a. Now only in historical contexts.The queen bee was formerly thought to be a male.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Hymenoptera > [noun] > suborder Apocrita, Petiolata, or Heterophaga > group Aculeata (stinging) > superfamily Apoidea (bees) > queen bee
kinga1398
rectora1398
king bee1565
master bee1579
prince1609
queen1609
queen bee1609
queen mother1753
mother queen1817
1565 A. Nowell Reproufe f. 32v There is..one kyng Bee, ouer all hiues of Bees.
1644 S. Rutherford Lex, Rex xl. 409 The Bees (as some think) have a power naturall to choose a King-Bee.
1679 M. Rusden Further Discov. Bees 2 The Royal Race of King-Bees, being natural Kings.
1712 J. Warder True Amazons ii. 10 The King Bee did cast his Sperm, and so Drones are produced.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Queen-bee, a term given by late writers to what used to be called the king-bee.
1812 Tradesman Nov. 387 The procreating powers of the king bee.
1870 Amer. Bee Jrnl. Nov. 119/1 What! no king bee! Why I always understood that a colony of bees without a king..will not be worth anything.
1908 T. Edwardes Lore of Honey Bee (ed. 2) i. 14 Pliny..tells us of a nation of industrious creatures ruled over by a king... These king-bees were of three sorts—red, black, and mottled.
2004 B. Wilson Hive (2007) 114 Admirers of bee rule were under the impression that the king bee had no sting.
2. A man who has a position of importance or control in a particular group or sphere. Cf. queen bee n. 2.Frequently in extended metaphors or similative use.
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the mind > attention and judgement > importance > [noun] > one who is important > one who has leading position or is most important
firstc1275
coba1420
principalsa1425
cock1542
chief1569
colossus1605
primore1625
cape1650
sachem1684
leading light1707
high priest1737
king bee1792
gentleman, man of lead1793
queen bee1823
primo basso1826
spokesman1828
protagonist1837
kingpin1861
key man1895
headliner1896
big boy1921
numero uno1944
godfather1963
1792 Addr. Jacobine & Other Patriotic Societies of French ii. 5 Had the God of Nature designed what your Assembly decreed..he would most probably have fixed some expressive Mark on Lewis the 16th and his progeny:..he would..have distinguished the King Bee of his Hive.
1801 M. G. Lewis Adelmorn 99 He who lived with such glee In a nest full of wives, like a kind of king bee.
1895 ‘M. Twain’ in Harper's Mag. July 236/1 He was king bee of the little village.
1910 Trenton (New Jersey) Evening Times 1 Apr. 16/5 Pongo and Leo..were the king bees of the show.
1983 Washington Post (Nexis) 30 Dec. (Style section) d7 My daddy was the king bee in this city.
2015 Sunday Star-Times (Auckland, N.Z.) (Nexis) 30 Aug. 34 The Melbourne-based Kiwi..has the kind of creative muse that drives and inspires him like a worker bee... In this hive of activity, he's the king bee.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1565