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hive

Pronunciation: /haɪv/

The English word “hive” has 10 meanings listed here.

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.
  5. An itchy, red, swollen area of the skin; singular or attributive form of hives.

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.

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…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.