bee

put the bee on (someone)

To ask or pressure someone for a loan or donation of money. Primarily heard in US. Jane's good-for-nothing brother always comes around our place every couple of weeks to put the bee on us for a few bucks. The alumni association of my old university puts the bee on me once or twice a year looking for a donation.See also: bee, on, put

queen bee

A woman who has authority or is in a dominant or favored position over her peers. An allusion to the (typically) lone egg-laying female of a bee colony. Martha fancies herself a queen bee after her promotion, but she's only an assistant supervisor. You'll have to ask the queen bee before you put through any more orders on the company card.See also: bee, queen

be (as) busy as a bee

To be very busy. I'm currently choreographing three plays, so I'm as busy as a bee. Can we meet next week instead? I'm busy as a bee right now.See also: bee, busy

a bee in (one's) bonnet

An obsession, often with something that is strange or a source of agitation. Ever since the blizzard last year, dad has had a bee in his bonnet about moving to a warmer climate. It seems that Mike still has a bee in his bonnet over the criticism he got in the staff meeting.See also: bee, bonnet

the bee's knees

dated slang Something or someone highly enjoyable, desirable, or impressive, especially in a fancy or elaborate way. Tom's new Cadillac is really the bee's knees! Boy, that singer last night was the bee's knees, wasn't she?See also: knee

be the bee's knees

To be exceptionally great, excellent, or high-quality. Have you ever tried the pistachio gelato at this place? It's absolutely the bee's knees! I'm so crazy about the girl I've started seeing. I think she's the bee's knees, and I don't care who knows it!See also: knee

have a bee in (one's) bonnet

To talk incessantly about something one thinks is important (often in spite of others' disinterest). Ever since the blizzard last year, Dad has had a bee in his bonnet about moving to a warmer climate It seems that Mike still has a bee in his bonnet over the criticism he got in the staff meeting.See also: bee, bonnet, have

the birds and the bees

Lessons about sex, such as are typically taught to children or young adults. My mom talked to me about the birds and the bees this morning—it was so mortifying!See also: and, bee, bird

(as) busy as a bee

Very busy. I'm currently choreographing three plays, so I'm as busy as a bee. Can we meet next week instead? I'm busy as a bee right now.See also: bee, busy

busy bee

One who is very active, industrious, or busy. I'm currently choreographing three plays, so I'm a real busy bee. Can we meet next week instead? I'm a busy bee right now.See also: bee, busy

make like a bee and buzz off

humorous slang To depart or leave, especially at once or in a hurry. This carnival turned out to be really boring. Come on, let's make like a bee and buzz off! You know, you're starting to get on my nerves—why don't you make like a bee and buzz off!See also: and, bee, buzz, like, make, off

put a bee in (one's) bonnet

1. To give one a suggestion of or idea about something that one should do, especially something that one becomes very interested in or obsessed with as a result. Someone put a bee in my bonnet that I should really advertise aggressively on social media, so I've been trying to bolster that side of the business lately. MY father put a bee in his Harry's bonnet last week about growing his own vegetables, and he's been out digging up a garden for them ever since.2. To cause one to be extremely aggravated, irritated, or angry (about something). You look upset—what's put a bee in your bonnet? It really puts a bee in my bonnet when you undermine me like that in front of the kids.See also: bee, bonnet, put

bee in one's bonnet

a single idea or a thought that remains in one's mind; an obsession. (*Typically: get ~; have ~; give one ~.) I have a bee in my bonnet over that cool new car I saw, and I can't stop thinking about it. I got a bee in my bonnet about swimming. I just wanted to go swimming all the time.See also: bee, bonnet

the birds and the bees

Euph. sex and reproduction. (See also .) My father tried to teach me about the birds and the bees. He's twenty years old and doesn't understand about the birds and the bees!See also: and, bee, bird

*busy as a beaver (building a new dam)

and *busy as a bee; *busy as a one-armed paperhanger; *busy as Grand Central Station; *busy as a cat on a hot tin roof; *busy as a fish peddler in Lent; *busy as a cranberry merchant (at Thanksgiving); *busy as popcorn on a skilletvery busy. (*Also: as ~.) My boss keeps me as busy as a one-armed paperhanger. I don't have time to talk to you. I'm as busy as a beaver. When the tourist season starts, this store is busy as Grand Central Station. Sorry I can't go to lunch with you. I'm as busy as a beaver building a new dam. Prying into other folks' business kept him busy as popcorn on a skillet.See also: beaver, busy

put a bee in someone's bonnet (about someone or something)

Fig. to give someone an idea about someone or something; to urge someone to do something. Julie put a bee in my bonnet about a way to solve our money problems. Sam put a bee in my bonnet about having a party for Jane. He put a bee in my bonnet about Jane. I'm glad he put a bee in my bonnet.See also: bee, bonnet, put

bee in one's bonnet

A strange idea or notion; also, an idea that is harped on, an obsession. For example, Bill's got a bee in his bonnet about burglars; he's always imagining strange noises. This term, which replaced the earlier have bees in one's head, transfers the buzzing of a bee inside one's hat to a weird idea in one's head. [Second half of 1600s] See also: bee, bonnet

birds and the bees, the

A euphemism for sex education, especially when taught informally. For example, It's time Father told the children about the birds and the bees. Cole Porter alluded to this expression in his witty song, "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love," (1928) when he noted that birds, bees, even educated fleas fall in love. This idiom alludes to sexual behavior in animals to avoid explicit explanation of human behavior. [Second half of 1800s] See also: and, bird

busy as a beaver

Also, busy as a bee. Hardworking, very industrious, as in With all her activities, Sue is always busy as a bee, or Bob's busy as a beaver trying to finish painting before it rains. The comparison to beavers dates from the late 1700s, the variant from the late 1300s. Also see eager beaver; work like a beaver. See also: beaver, busy

the bee's knees

BRITISH, OLD-FASHIONEDIf something or someone is the bee's knees, they are extremely good. I loved this jacket when I bought it — I thought it was the bee's knees. Note: Some people believe that this expression refers to the way in which bees transfer pollen (= the powder that flowers make) from their bodies to pollen sacs on their back legs. However, it seems more likely that it dates from the 1920s, when other similar expressions such as `the cat's pyjamas' began to be used. See also: knee

have a bee in your bonnet

If you have a bee in your bonnet about a subject, you feel very strongly about it and keep talking about it. Daley has a bee in her bonnet about the state of popular music. There was no arguing with the boy when he'd got a bee in his bonnet. Note: This expression suggests that you think the subject that a person keeps talking about is not important. The expression is considered old-fashioned in American English. Note: Two images are suggested by this expression. The first is of thoughts moving around inside someone's head like bees. The second is of someone who has a bee trapped in their hat and is anxious to get it out before they are stung. See also: bee, bonnet, have

a busy bee

If you describe someone as a busy bee, you mean that they enjoy doing a lot of things and always keep themselves busy. `I enjoyed being a busy bee, getting things done,' she said in her confident way. Note: You can also say that someone is as busy as a bee. He is busy as a bee designing every production in London.See also: bee, busy

the birds and the bees

If you tell a child about the birds and the bees, you explain to them about sex and sexual reproduction. At the age of 16 I remember having yet another discussion about the birds and the bees with my father. Note: This expression is often used humorously. Note: People sometimes explain sex and sexual reproduction to children by telling them how animals reproduce. See also: and, bee, bird

the bee's knees

something or someone outstandingly good. informal The bee's knees was first used to refer to something small and insignificant, but it quickly developed its current, completely opposite meaning.See also: knee

have a bee in your bonnet

have an obsessive preoccupation with something. informal This expression, along with have bees in the head or bees in the brain , was first used to refer to someone who was regarded as crazy or eccentric.See also: bee, bonnet, have

the birds and the bees

basic facts about sex and reproduction as told to a child. informalSee also: and, bee, bird

as busy as a bee

very busy or industrious.See also: bee, busy

busy bee

an industrious personSee also: bee, busy

the ˌbee’s ˈknees

(informal) a wonderful person or thing: He thinks he’s the bee’s knees (= has a high opinion of himself).See also: knee

have a ˈbee in your bonnet

(informal) think or talk about something all the time and believe that it is very important: Harry’s always going around opening windows. He’s got a bee in his bonnet about fresh air.A bonnet is a hat tied with strings under the chin, worn by babies and, especially in the past, by women.See also: bee, bonnet, have

the birds and the ˈbees

(old-fashioned or humorous) the basic facts about sex and reproduction, the ‘facts of life’, as told to children: Now that Jamie is eleven, isn’t it time you told him about the birds and the bees?See also: and, bee, bird

(as) busy as a ˈbee

very busySee also: bee, busy

a ˌbusy ˈbee

(informal) a cheerful and busy personSee also: bee, busy

a bee in (one's) bonnet

1. An impulse to do something; a notion.2. An obsession.See also: bee, bonnet

bee in one's bonnet, to have a

To have a strange fixation about something; to have an eccentric idea or fantasy. A version of the term appears in Robert Herrick’s “Mad Maid’s Song” (ca. 1648): “. . . the bee which bore my love away, I’ll seek him in your bonnet brave.” Allegedly the expression stems from the analogy of a bee buzzing inside one’s hat to a peculiar idea in one’s head. It has been a cliché since the eighteenth century. Lest one think it is obsolete, it appeared in a 2004 murder mystery: “By the way, what bee got into your bonnet at the meeting? Bailey had been pretty cooperative” (David Baldacci, Hour Game).See also: bee, have

busy as a beaver/bee

Extremely industrious. The proverbial comparison to bees dates from Chaucer’s time. The one to beavers is newer, going back only to the seventeenth century; it also is put as works like a beaver and eager beaver. Among more recent proverbial comparisons for being busy, which liken it more to nervous overactivity than ambitiousness, is busy as a one-armed paperhanger, an Americanism dating from about 1910.See also: beaver, bee, busy

bee's knees

Something that's excellent. This nonsensical phrase that was popular in the 1920s was, like “the cat's whiskers,” the equivalent of today's “really cool” or “it's amazing!” It went the way of such faddish expressions, which is to say, out.See also: knee

bee

bee,

name for flying insectsinsect,
invertebrate animal of the class Insecta of the phylum Arthropoda. Like other arthropods, an insect has a hard outer covering, or exoskeleton, a segmented body, and jointed legs. Adult insects typically have wings and are the only flying invertebrates.
..... Click the link for more information. of the superfamily Apoidea, in the same order as the antsant,
any of the 2,500 insect species constituting the family Formicidae of the order Hymenoptera, to which the bee and the wasp also belong. Like most members of the order, ants have a "wasp waist," that is, the front part of the abdomen forms a narrow stalk, called the waist,
..... Click the link for more information. and the waspswasp,
name applied to many winged insects of the order Hymenoptera, which also includes ants and bees. Most wasps are carnivorous, feeding on insects, grubs, or spiders. They have biting mouthparts, and the females have stings with which they paralyze their prey.
..... Click the link for more information. . Bees are characterized by their enlarged hind feet, typically equipped with pollen baskets of stiff hairs for gathering pollen. They usually have a dense coat of feathery hairs on the head and thorax. In many, the lip forms a long tube for sucking nectar. Bees feed on pollen and nectar; the latter is converted to honeyhoney,
sweet, viscid fluid produced by honeybees from the nectar of flowers. The nectar is taken from the flower by the worker bee and is carried in the honey sac back to the hive.
..... Click the link for more information. in the bee's digestive tract. There are about 20,000 species of bees. They may be solitary, social, or parasitic in the nests of other bees. The solitary bees (which do not secrete wax) are called carpenter, plasterer, leaf-cutting, burrowing, or mason bees according to the material or method used to construct nests for their young.

Social Bees

The groups of social bees, including altogether about 400 species, are the bumblebees, the stingless bees, and the honeybees.

Bumblebees and Stingless Bees

Bumblebees belong to the genus Bombus. In the tropics bumblebee colonies continue for many years, but in temperate regions the workers and the drones die in the fall. Only the young, fertilized queens live through the winter, in hibernation. In the spring they begin new colonies, often laying their eggs in the deserted nests of field mice and chipmunks. The stingless bees are chiefly tropical. Some species release a caustic liquid that burns the skin. Tetragonisca angustula, a stingless bee of the American tropics, has soldier bees, larger than the worker bees, that guard the entrances to the nests.

Honeybees

The honeybee commonly raised for production of honey and waxwax,
substance secreted by glands on the abdomen of the bee and known commonly as beeswax; also various substances resembling beeswax. Waxes are mixtures comprising chiefly esters of monohydroxy alcohols, besides other esters and free fatty acids, free alcohols, and higher
..... Click the link for more information. in many parts of the world is Apis mellifera, of Old World origin. Honeybees build nests, or combs, of wax, which is secreted by glands in the abdomen. They store honey for future use in the hexagonal cells of the comb. In the wild the nests are made in caves or hollow trees, but beekeepers provide nesting boxes, called hives. Beekeeping, or apiculture, is more than 4,000 years old, but humans collected honey and beeswax several thousand years before that.

A typical colony consists of three castes: the large queen, who produces the eggs, many thousands of workers (sexually undeveloped females), and a few hundred drones (fertile males). At the tip of a female bee's abdomen is a strong, sharp lancet, or sting, connected to poison glands. In the queen, who stings only rival queens, the sting is smooth and can be withdrawn easily; in the worker bee the sting is barbed and can rarely be withdrawn without tearing the body of the bee, causing it to die. The workers gather nectar; make and store honey; build the cells; clean, ventilate (by fanning their wings), and protect the hive. They also feed and care for the queen and the larvae. They communicate with one another (for example, about the location of flowers) by performing dances in specific patterns. The workers live for only about six weeks during the active season, but those that hatch (i.e., emerge from the pupa stage) in the fall live through the winter. The drones die in the fall.

A developing bee goes through the larva and pupa stages in the cell and emerges as an adult. The larva is fed constantly by the worker bees; the pupa is sealed into the cell. Fertilized eggs develop into workers; unfertilized eggs become drones. A fertilized egg may also become a queen if the larva is fed royal jelly, a glandular secretion thought to contain sex hormones as well as nutrients, until she pupates. Worker larvae receive this food only during the first three days of larval life, afterward receiving beebread, a mixture of pollen and honey.

When a hive becomes overcrowded a swarm may leave with the old queen and establish a new colony. The old colony in the meantime rears several new queens. The first queen that hatches stings the others to death in their cells; if two emerge at once, they fight until one is killed. Mating then occurs. A newly hatched queen is followed aloft in a nuptial flight by the drones, only one of which impregnates her, depositing millions of sperm that are stored in a pouch in her body. The drone dies, and the queen returns to the hive, where for the rest of her life (usually several years) she lays eggs continuously in the cells.

Importance of Bees

Bees are of inestimable value as agents of cross-pollination (see pollinationpollination,
transfer of pollen from the male reproductive organ (stamen or staminate cone) to the female reproductive organ (pistil or pistillate cone) of the same or of another flower or cone.
..... Click the link for more information. ), and many plants are entirely dependent on particular kinds of bees for their reproduction (such as red clover, which is pollinated by the bumblebee, and many orchids). In many cases the use of insecticides for agricultural pest control has had the unwelcome side effect of killing the bees necessary for maintaining the crop. Such environmental stresses plus several species of parasitic mites devastated honeybee populations in the United States beginning in the 1980s, making it necessary for farmers to rent bees from keepers in order to get their crops pollinated and greatly affecting the pollination of plants in the wild.

In 2006, commercial honeybee hives first suffered from colony collapse disorder, which, for unclear reasons, left many bee boxes empty of bees after overwintering. Dead bees from affected colonies have since been found to be infected with viruses and other pathogens that, acting synergistically, may be the cause. Although colony collapse disorder peaked in 2007 and has subsided, commercial honeybee hives continue to suffer significantly from the effects of disease and pesticides.

The increasing expense of using honeybees to pollinate agricultural crops has led to the growing use of such alternative species as bumblebees and blue orchard mason bees as well as wild bees as supplemental or primary pollinators. The successful use of wild bees as agricultural pollinators typically requires providing or ensuring access to alternative food sources before and after the crop flowers and limiting practices, such as the use of pesticides, that might kill wild bees.

Bee venom has been found to have medicinal properties. Toasted honeybees are eaten in some parts of the world.

Classification

Bees are classified in the phylum ArthropodaArthropoda
[Gr.,=jointed feet], largest and most diverse animal phylum. The arthropods include crustaceans, insects, centipedes, millipedes, spiders, scorpions, and the extinct trilobites.
..... Click the link for more information. , class Insecta, order Hymenoptera, superfamily Apoidea.

Bibliography

See M. Maeterlinck, The Life of the Bee (1913); K. von Frisch, The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees (1965, tr. 1967); M. Lindauer, Communication Among Social Bees (rev. ed. 1971); C. Mitchener, Social Behavior of Bees (1974); F. Ruttner, Biogeography and Raxonomy of Honey Bees (1987); M. Winston, The Biology of the Honey Bee (1987); James L. and Carol Gould, The Honey Bee (1988).

bee

[bē] (invertebrate zoology) Any of the membranous-winged insects which compose the superfamily Apoidea in the order Hymenoptera characterized by a hairy body and by sucking and chewing mouthparts.

bee

proverbial busyness refers to ceaseless activity of worker bees. [Western Folklore: Jobes, 445]See: Industriousness

bee

¹ any hymenopterous insect of the superfamily Apoidea, which includes social forms such as the honeybee and solitary forms such as the carpenter bee

bee

² Nautical a small sheave with one cheek removed and the pulley and other cheek fastened flat to a boom or another spar, used for reeving outhauls or stays

Bees

(dreams)Consider the details of this dream, as well as your emotional reactions in it, as bees can have a variety of different connotations. The positive symbolism is that of a person who is hard working, has good organizational skills, and is cooperative and creative. The negative symbolism could be that of a follower, a busybody, or someone who “stings.” If you are working on a project in which many people need to work together to accomplish a goal, this may be a topic for some of your dreams.

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BEE

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put the bee on (someone)

queen bee

be (as) busy as a bee

a bee in (one's) bonnet

the bee's knees

be the bee's knees

have a bee in (one's) bonnet

the birds and the bees

(as) busy as a bee

busy bee

make like a bee and buzz off

put a bee in (one's) bonnet

bee in one's bonnet

the birds and the bees

*busy as a beaver (building a new dam)

put a bee in someone's bonnet (about someone or something)

bee in one's bonnet

birds and the bees, the

busy as a beaver

the bee's knees

have a bee in your bonnet

a busy bee

the birds and the bees

the bee's knees

have a bee in your bonnet

the birds and the bees

as busy as a bee

busy bee

the ˌbee’s ˈknees

have a ˈbee in your bonnet

the birds and the ˈbees

(as) busy as a ˈbee

a ˌbusy ˈbee

a bee in (one's) bonnet

bee in one's bonnet, to have a

busy as a beaver/bee

bee's knees

bee

bee,

Social Bees

Bumblebees and Stingless Bees

Honeybees

Importance of Bees

Classification

Bibliography

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Bees

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Patient discussion about bee

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Synonyms for bee

noun an impulsive, often illogical turn of mind

Synonyms

Words related to bee

noun any of numerous hairy-bodied insects including social and solitary species

Related Words

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