Hive Definition

hīv
hived, hives, hiving
noun
hives
A structure for housing domesticated honeybees.
American Heritage
A box or other shelter for a colony of domesticated bees.
Webster's New World
Any structure made or used by a colony of bees, wasps, etc. as a nesting place.
Webster's New World
A colony of bees living in a hive; swarm.
Webster's New World
A place swarming with activity.
American Heritage
verb
hived, hives, hiving
To put or gather (bees) into a hive.
Webster's New World
To enter a hive.
Webster's New World
To live together in or as in a hive.
Webster's New World
To store up (honey) in a hive.
Webster's New World
To store up for future use; garner.
Webster's New World
idiom
hive off
  • to depart from a group
  • to separate from the whole

    hived off the first graders to another playground

Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Hive

Noun

Singular:
hive
Plural:
hives

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Hive

Origin of Hive

  • From Middle English hyfe, from Old English hȳf, from Proto-Germanic *hūbī (compare Dutch huif ‘beehive’, Danish dialect huv ‘ship's hull’), from Proto-Indo-European *kuHp- (“water vessel”) (compare Latin cūpa ‘tub, vat’, Ancient Greek κύπη (kyphē) ‘gap, hole’, κύπελλον (kýpellon) ‘beaker’, Sanskrit kū́pa ‘cave’), from *kew- (“to bend, curve”). The computing term was chosen as an in-joke relating to bees; see .

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English from Old English hȳf

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Find Similar Words

Find similar words to hive using the buttons below.

Words Starting With

Words Ending With

Unscrambles

hive