spelling been.
/ˈspɛlɪŋ biː/, U.S. /ˈspɛlɪŋ ˌbi/ Originally U.S.
A spelling competition, in which participants (usually children or teenagers) spell words of increasing difficulty aloud, typically from a pre-supplied list, and are eliminated after making an error. Cf. spelldown n.
ΚΠ
1850 Knickerbocker Apr. 360 Those who have attended a ‘spelling-bee’—and what reader who ever went to a district-school in the country but has attended them?—will call to mind a familiar and pleasant scene.
1876 Ann. Reg. 1875 111 A Spelling Bee has been held at the Myddelton Hall, Islington.
1920 Aberdeen Jrnl. 9 Dec. 7/8 Under the auspices of the Auchinblae Mutual Improvement Association a spelling bee was held in their hall on Tuesday evening.
1983 S. Greenwald Will Real Gertrude Hollings Please stand Up? (1989) vi. 51 What did I do today?.. I got A on my history paper and I won the spelling bee.
2005 Province (Vancouver, Brit. Columbia) (Nexis) 15 Mar. a20 Students might consider the old-fashioned spelling bee as nothing more than floccinaucinihilipilification. Well, we see it more as an act of honorificabilitudinity.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2022).
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n.1850