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Definition of "bee" []

  • 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. (noun)
  • A bumblebee. (noun)
  • A honeybee. (noun)
  • A social gathering where people combine work, competition, and amusement: a quilting bee. (noun)
  • A bee in (one's) bonnet An impulsive, often eccentric turn of mind; a notion. (idiom)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "bee" in a sentence
  • "_There is nothing I wouldn't do for a bee -- a reasonable bee_"
  • "We'll have a bee, and get a lot done, 'Maude said; and she pressed into the _bee_ her father and Dick, and Billy, and Fred"
  • "Mr. Changizi illustrates his message with charts and graphs and even a readout that shows how the sound measurements for a book striking a table directly or hitting a "wrinkly paper" on a table resemble the measurements for the sound of the author saying the word "bee" and the word "pee.""