hive
hive Lexical Profile
hive Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A structure, often man-made, designed for housing a swarm of honeybees.
"The beekeeper gently smoked the hive before carefully extracting the honeycombs."
A large number of bees living together in a single colony.
"The entire hive worked tirelessly to store enough nectar before the onset of winter."
A place swarming with activity and busy people.
"During the holiday season, the kitchen became a hive of intense culinary preparation."
• verb
To separate from a larger group or accumulate into a discrete entity (usually used with 'off').
"The corporation decided to hive off its less profitable divisions to focus entirely on its core operations."
To place or gather (bees) into a hive.
"After catching the wild swarm in the orchard, the apiarist carefully hived the bees in a new wooden box."
To enter and take possession of a hive (especially of a swarm of bees).
"The bees hived in the hollow of the old oak tree just before the thunderstorm broke."
• Rhymes for hive
Word Origin & Etymology
From Old English 'hyf', meaning 'beehive', of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse 'húfr' (hull of a ship), tracing back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'cup' or 'to contain'.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.