rhizoverbBeta
DictionaryhiveBee home
noun / verb

hive

HIVE/haɪv/

A shared dwelling where a bee colony lives and works.

Bees return to the hive with pollen on their legs.

A single wooden beehive with stacked boxes, a protective lid, and an entrance where honeybees visibly land, enter, and emerge.
Etymology
hiveOld Englishbeehive

Old English hyf already meant a beehive. Its possible kinship with words for cups, tubs, and other hollow vessels suggests the image of a hive as a container housing bees.

In context

CNA Insider18:24
See this black board divides the colony at the bottom from the colony at the top. It separates the bottom hive from the top hive.
Fake Honey: Why It's More Common Than You Think | Talking Point | Full Episode

More examples

  • The beekeeper lifts the lid to inspect the hive.
  • Three wooden hives stand beside the orchard.
  • The beekeeper hives the swarm in a new box.

Forms

hive · hives · hived · hiving

Similar words

beehive
Explicitly names a bee dwelling rather than a busy place.
nest
A broader term for an animal's shelter or breeding place.