hive

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A structure, whether artificial or natural, for housing a swarm of honeybees.
  2. The bees of one hive; a swarm of bees.
  3. A place swarming with busy occupants; a crowd.
  4. A section of the registry.
verb
  1. To collect (bees) into a hive.
  2. To store (something other than bees) in, or as if in, a hive.
  3. To form a hive-like entity.
  4. To take lodging or shelter together; to reside in a collective body.
  5. Of insects: to enter or possess a hive.
noun
  1. An itchy, red, swollen area of the skin; singular or attributive form of hives.

Pronunciation

/haɪv/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-hive.wav

Word forms

hive hives hiving hived

Etymology

From Middle English hyve, from Old English hȳf, from Proto-West Germanic *hūfi, from Proto-Indo-European *kuHp- (“water vessel”), from *kew- (“to bend, curve”). See also Dutch huif (“beehive”), Danish dialect huv (“ship’s hull”); also Latin cūpa (“tub, vat”), Ancient Greek κύπη (kúpē, “gap, hole”), κύπελλον (kúpellon, “beaker”), Sanskrit कूप (kū́pa, “cave”). Doublet of coupe, cup, and keeve. The computing term was chosen as an in-joke relating to bees; see this for more.

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