beeswax

en-noun

beeswax (usually uncountable, plural beeswaxes)

A wax secreted by bees from which they make honeycomb; or, the processed form of this wax used in the manufacture of various goods.


bee

From Middle English bee, from Old English bēo, from Proto-West Germanic *bijā, from Proto-Germanic *bijō, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰey-.

His face was belymmed as byes had him stounge[…].

1499, John Skelton, The Bowge of Courte:

An angry Wasp th'one in a viall had, / Th'other in hers an hony-laden Bee.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

Can there be a more formall, and better ordered policie, divided into so severall charges and offices, more constantly entertained, and better maintained, than that of Bees?

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

Ariell: / Where the Bee ſucks, there ſuck I, / In a Cowslips bell, I lie, / There I cowch when Owles doe crie, / On the Batts backe I doe flie / after Sommer merrily. / Merrily, merrily, ſhall I liue now / Vnder the bloſſom that hangs on the Bow.

1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 17:

Bees are the moſt excellent of all Inſects vvhatſoever, and expreſſe both vvorth and vvonder in all their vvaies: […]

1657, Samuel Purchas, “The Excellency of Bees”, in A Theatre of Politicall Flying-Insects. […], London: […] R. I. for Thomas Parkhurst, […], →OCLC, page 1:

Bees pollinate many of the world’s crops—a service estimated to be worth $15 billion a year in America alone.

2012 March 31, “Subtle poison”, in The Economist:

A flying insect, of the clade Anthophila within the hymenopteran superfamily Apoidea, known for its organised societies (though only a minority have them), for collecting pollen and (in some species) producing wax and honey.

തേനീച്ച (tēnīcca, literally “honey-fly”)

بلۍ مچۍ

balǝ́ymǝčǝ́y


propolis

From Latin propolis, from Hellenistic Ancient Greek πρόπολις (própolis, “suburb; propolis”) (apparently because the material was used by bees to extend their hives), from Ancient Greek προ- (pro-, “pro-”) + πόλις (pólis, “city”).

uder

An aromatic glue-like substance produced by honeybees from tree resin, waxes, and their own secretions, used in the construction of their hives.


drone

→ Asturian: dron

→ Spanish: dron

→ Italian: drone

→ Punjabi: ਡ੍ਰੋਨ (ḍron)

→ Polish: dron

→ Portuguese: drone

From Middle English drane, from Old English drān, from Proto-West Germanic *drānu, from Proto-Germanic *drēniz, *drēnuz, *drenô (“an insect, drone”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrēn- (“bee, drone, hornet”).
Cognate with:
* Dutch dar (“male bee or wasp”),
* Low German drone (“drone”),
* German Drohne, dialectal German Dräne, Trehne, Trene (“drone”),
* Danish drone (“drone”),
* Swedish drönje, drönare (“drone”).
The etymology of the sense of "remote-controlled aircraft" is disputed; theories include early military UAVs dumbly flying on preset paths.

inh

The Apex boat is a small radio-controlled craft which tows, at an angle, two Drone boats. The latter are small craft filled with explosives to be detonated from the control radio of the Apex boat.

1946, Seventh United States Army in France and Germany, Report of Operations, volume 1, page 73:

Firefish, a drone boat, is the second radio-controlled target used by the detachment. A 17-foot fiber glass craft, it weighs 1700 pounds and operates from the support ship by remote control at a range of up to five miles using tracking radar.

1968 July 20, “Long-Distance Crews”, in All Hands, number 618, page 27:

There, in the heart of a desert target range, operates a fleet of remote-control QM-56 mobile land drones, more familiarly described as modified tanks.

1968 September 20, “Desert Tank Corps”, in All Hands, number 620, page 13:

"Libya obtained a remote controlled explosive boat system consisting of 30-knot drone boats packed with high explosives controlled from a cabin cruiser type craft," Butts told the seapower and strategic and critical materials subcomittee.

1984 March 1, UPI, “Libya owns drone boats, Navy says”, in Eugene Register-Guard, page 2:

(expansion of the sense "an unmanned or remotely operated aircraft"): (chiefly military) Any remotely-operated vehicle (ROV), such as a tank or boat, especially when multiple such vehicles are operated from a larger vessel.

The van is locally referred to as "a drone" because it is compact and stable under extreme conditions. It is also very fast. Technically though, it is a Toyota Hiace, which is usually used for commercial purposes.

2021 February 4, Alex Mugasha, “Why Uganda's security agencies have fallen in love with the "Drone" van”, in Nile Post:

He has been arrested several times, transported in drone vans and brutalized in various detention facilities.

2021 February 4, Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, “Horror inside a kidnap drone”, in The Observer:

The Toyota Hiace is a light commercial van that can be used as a minibus, a taxi, or even an ambulance. But in Uganda, the "drone" has a sinister reputation. Chris Atukwasize, a cartoonist at the Daily Monitor newspaper, dubbed it the #WheelsOfSteal and rendered it as a skull: brake lights dripping blood, its front grille a row of teeth, and hands plastered behind its tinted back windows, pleading for help.

2021 March 3, Liam Taylor, “They came in plainclothes with guns: 'Abducted' by Uganda's army”, in Al Jazeera:

Earlier this week, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa summoned the Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja together with the Ministers of Security and Internal Affairs and parliamentary whips to address the said return of drones on the streets.

2022 October 2, Sam Waswa, “UPDF Probes Drone Raid at Journalist's Home”, in Chimp Reports:

A minibus van, often numberless and dubbed the 'drone', gained notoriety for kidnaps and disappearances.

2022 October 20, Albert K Awedoba, Andreas Mehler, Benedikt Kamski, David Sebudubudu, Africa Yearbook, volume 18, →ISBN, page 419:

(Uganda) A Toyota HiAce or a similar van, especially one used by Ugandan state agents to kidnap opposition members.

The billionaire-friendly media drones and frenzied
multiculturalist politicians are imposing
"vibrant" third world social violence onto
Australians, and Australians don't get to vote
against this "bipartisan" conspiracy. The
hyperactive globalist politicians and media drones
might find themselves facing firing squads if they
don't change their corrupt ways.

2009 December 18, Benway (original non-Zionist), “Shocking Jewish faggot property pimp attack on Australia”, in aus.politics (Usenet):

2011 September 2, corella, “What does it mean when gibbering media drones say that grotesque Asian-style "Stack and Pack" slums and plague immigration are vibrant?”, in aus.politics (Usenet):

Instead, you got into lockstep with all the other hive-mind libtard drones and voted for the slimy corrupt scumbag bitch who was under *two* active Congressional investigations (a first in history, BTW), Hitlery Clinton.

2017 January 19, The Party Of Trump (The Party For Winners), “Re: Clinton Cash”, in alt.checkmate (Usenet):

non-player character
non-player character

(chiefly Internet slang, derogatory) A person without the ability to think critically and independently, especially one who follows a group blindly; a non-player character.


apian

en-adj

apian (comparative more apian, superlative most apian)

more apian (comparative)
most apian (superlative)

19th century, from Latin apiānus, from apis (“bee”).

In fact, apian, formican, vespal, and termital government is not a monarchy, but a pure democracy. The queens of ants, bees, wasps, and termites wear the crown of maternity — no other.

1904, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, volume 108, page 559:


bumblebee

1520s from bumble + bee, replacing Middle English humbul-be. Merged with Middle English bombeln (“to boom, buzz”), in the late 14th century.

der

Any of several species of large bee in the genus Bombus.

ผึ้งมีขนตัวใหญ่ที่ส่งเสียงหึ่งๆ

pêung mee kŏn dtua yài tĕe sòng sĭang hèung-hèung


bumble

* Verb: Frequentative of boom and/or bum, equivalent to bum + -le.
* Noun: From the verb.

(UK, Ireland, dialect) The Eurasian bittern.


hive

From Middle English hyve, from Old English hȳf, from Proto-West Germanic *hūfi (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 (kúpē, “gap, hole”), κύπελλον (kúpellon, “beaker”), Sanskrit कूप (kū́pa, “cave”)), from *kew- (“to bend, curve”). Doublet of coupe, cup, and keeve. The computing term was chosen as an in-joke relating to bees; see https://web.archive.org/web/20150715222122/http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2003/08/08/54618.aspx.

First, for thy Bees a quiet Station find, / And lodge 'em under Covert of the Wind: / For Winds, when homeward they return, will drive / The loaded Carriers from their Ev'ning Hive.

1697, Virgil, “The Fourth Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, lines 10–13:

A structure, whether artificial or natural, for housing a swarm of honeybees.

When that the general is not like the hive, to whom the foragers shall all repair, what honey is expected?

c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

Windows builds the registry from the five registry hives[…]

2006, Jean Andrews, Fixing Windows XP, page 352:

For devices built with hive-based registry implementation, the registry data are broken into three different hives — the boot hive, system hive, and user hive.

2011, Samuel Phung, Professional Microsoft Windows Embedded CE 6.0:

(computing, Microsoft Windows) A section of the registry.


hive

en-verb

hive (third-person singular simple present hives, present participle hiving, simple past and past participle hived)

hives (present singular third-person)
hiving (participle present)
hived (participle past)
hived (past)

to hive a swarm of bees

(transitive) To collect (bees) into a hive.

Hiving wisdom with each studious year.

1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: Printed for John Murray, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):

(transitive) To store (something other than bees) in, or as if in, a hive.

(entomology) Of insects: to enter or possess a hive.


carpenter

From Middle English carpenter, from Anglo-Norman carpenter (compare Old French charpentier), from Late Latin carpentārius (“a carpenter”), from Latin carpentārius (“a wagon-maker, carriage-maker”), from Latin carpentum (“a two-wheeled carriage, coach, or chariot, a cart”), from Gaulish carbantos, from Proto-Celtic *karbantos (“chariot, war chariot”), probably related to Proto-Celtic *karros (“wagon”). Doublet of carpintero. More at car.
Displaced native Old English trēowwyrhta (literally “tree worker”).

ncog

A person skilled at carpentry, the trade of cutting and joining timber in order to construct buildings or other structures.


apiology

The scientific study of bees and honey-making.


scopa

From Vulgar Latin scōpa (“broom”) (Latin scōpae (“twigs, broom”) ). Compare Spanish escoba (“broom”).

Any of various clusters of hair of non-parasitic bees that serve to carry pollen. In parasitic Hymenoptera it refers to a local patch of hairs, regardless of function.


honey bee

Any of seven species of bee, in genus Apis, often kept commercially for honey, beeswax, and pollination of crops.


bourdon

Inherited from Middle English burdoun (“accompaniment”), from Old French bordon, from Medieval Latin burdō, burdōnem (“drone”). The modern pronunciation is influenced by modern French bourdon.

der

A large, low-pitched bell not part of a diatonically tuned ring of bells.


dumbledore

Compound of dumble (similar to bumble) + dor (“a buzzing flying insect”).

compound

“Miserable dumbledores!” / “Right, William, and so they be—miserable dumbledores!” said the choir with unanimity.

1872, [Thomas Hardy], chapter 4, in Under the Greenwood Tree: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Tinsley Brothers, →OCLC, (please specify |part=I to V):


queen bee

From queen + bee. Compare Middle English kyng of been (“queen bee”, literally “king of bees”).

noncog

It is generally believed that the queen bee mates only once in her lifetime.

1947, AI Root, The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture, Kessinger, published 2005, page 205:

A reproductive female (especially the only one) in a colony of bees.


nuc

I have to take brood from established hives to set up nucs, as I did the previous week[…]

1998, Sue Hubbell, A Book of Bees: And How to Keep Them, page 110:

(beekeeping) A nucleus colony; a small bee colony created from a larger colony.


polylectic

en-adj

polylectic (comparative more polylectic, superlative most polylectic)

more polylectic (comparative)
most polylectic (superlative)

From Ancient Greek πολύς (polús, “a lot of, much”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *polh₁ús (“many, much”), from the root *pleh₁- (“to fill”)) + λέγειν (légein), from λέγω (légō, “to arrange, choose, gather; to count, reckon”) (from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to gather”)) + -ic.

der

A polylectic term is a multi-word term, as opposed to a monolectic term which is a one-word term.

(grammar) Of or relating to a term consisting of more than one word.


grist

en-noun

grist (countable and uncountable, plural grists)

From Middle English grist, gryst, from Old English grist, gyrst (“the action of grinding, corn for grinding, gnashing”), of obscure origin: possibly from a pre-Germanic substrate language, or from a derivative of Proto-Germanic *gredaną (“to crunch”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to rub, grind”). Cognate with Old Saxon gristgrimmo (“gnashing of the teeth”), German Griesgram (“a grumbler, a grouch, peevishness, misery”), Old English gristel (“gristle”).


apimania

Cesi's Lincean bees made a spectacular impression and contributed greatly to the apimania that gripped the Rome of Urban VIII.

Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome (volume 40, page 216)


colony collapse disorder

As many as a quarter of the nation's commercially kept bees went missing last year, presumed dead, in a phenomenon now called colony collapse disorder.

2007 May 12, “Mysterious Honeybee Deaths”, in Houston Chronicle:

Interaction among multiple pathogens and parasites is the proposed cause for Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a syndrome characterized by worker bees abandoning the hive. Here we provide the first documentation that the phorid fly Apocephalus borealis, previously known to parasitize bumble bees, also infects and eventually kills honey bees and may pose an emerging threat to North American apiculture.

2012 January 3, Andrew Core, Charles Runckel, Jonathan Ivers, Christopher Quock, Travis Siapno, Seraphina DeNault, Brian Brown, Joseph DeRisi, Christopher D. Smith, John Hafernik, “A New Threat to Honey Bees, the Parasitic Phorid Fly Apocephalus borealis”, in PLOS, →DOI:

A mysterious and widespread phenomenon of the sudden disappearance of colonies of bees.


leaf-cutting bee

en-noun

leaf-cutting bee (plural leaf-cutting bees)

A leaf-cutter bee, of the family Megachilidae.


leaf-cutter bee

leaf-cutter bee (plural leaf-cutter bees)

A bee of the family Megachilidae that cuts fragments from leaves and uses them to build its nest.


worker bee

Then, a worker bee has got six thousand eyes of each side of its head so it can see the flowers that it wants to get the pollen and the nectar from.

1991, Gene Stratton-Porter, The Keeper of the Bees, reprint edition, Indiana University Press, →ISBN, page 197:

A sterile bee whose specialty is to support the hive, especially by collecting pollen.


bee candy

Connected with one corner of the cage is a small tube several inches in length which in caging a queen for introduction, is filled with bee candy.

1909, Ralph Benton, A Comprehensive System for the Queen Breeder, page 126:

This is bee-candy," he explained, "winter food for the hives. We make a lot of it and send it all over the country. But it's ticklish work.

a. 1921 [3rd ed.], Tickner Edwardes, The Bee-Master of Warrilow [Kessinger reprint](2006), page 61

The hive was provisioned with bee candy, water, 2 frames of honey, and 1 frame of pollen mixed with dextrose.

1990, Gordon L. Shaw, James L. McGaugh, Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, page 428:

A manufactured food for bees, used by bee-keepers


humblebee

From Middle English humbul-be, humbulbe, hombul-be, from *humbul (“bumblebee”) + be (“bee”).
See also West Frisian hommel (“bumblebee”), Dutch hommel (“bumblebee”), German Low German Hummel (“bumblebee”), German Hummel (“bumblebee”), Swedish humla (“bumblebee”), Norwegian humle (“bumblebee”); also cognate with Dutch hommelbij (“bumblebee”), Danish humlebi (“bumblebee”). Compare also English humble (“to hum”).

The Fox, the Ape, and the Humble-Bee,
Were ſtill at oddes being but three.

c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC; republished as Shakspere’s Loves Labours Lost (Shakspere-Quarto Facsimiles; no. 5), London: W[illiam] Griggs, […], [1880], →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], signature [C4], verso, lines 85–86:

1800's, Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Humblebee
Burly, dozing humblebee,
Where thou art is clime for me.

Hence I have very little doubt, that if the whole genus of humble-bees became extinct or very rare in England, the heartsease and red clover would become very rare, or wholly disappear.

1859 November 24, Charles Darwin, “Struggle for Existence”, in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, pages 73–74:


mining bee

Any of very many species of bee, of the genus Andrena, that nest in burrows.


corbicula

A learned borrowing from Latin corbicula, diminutive of corbis, a basket. Doublet of corbeil.

(entomology) A bee's pollen basket; in honeybees and close relatives, the corbiculae are located on the outer (lateral) surface of the hind tibia.


killer bee

From killer + bee, for its aggressive nature, though few deaths have been reported.


melittin

melittin (countable and uncountable, plural melittins)

Borrowed from German Melittin, from Attic Greek μέλιττα (mélitta, “bee”) + German -in.

af

(biochemistry) A peptide, containing 26 amino acids, which is present in bee venom and has been used experimentally as an antibacterial agent, especially against penicillin-resistant bacteria.


melissopalynology

There are many reasons why the results from melissopalynology may not be showing the nectar sources correctly. Molan (1998) reported that melissopalynology is valid only for the determination of the geographical origin of honey, while it is less valid for determining its botanical origin […]

2013, Laïd Boukraâ, Honey in Traditional and Modern Medicine, page 68:

The study of pollen from bees and in their honey


xylocopine

Wilson thinks today's eusocial species likely had ancestors similar to a Japanese stem-nesting xylocopine bee, Ceratina flavipes. Most of the time females make do on their own, but every once in a while, they pair up and divide the labor, setting the stage for a "group" to outdo individuals and for the tendency to form groups to be favored.

2009 February 6, Elizabeth Pennisi, “EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY: Agreeing to Disagree”, in Science, volume 323, number 5915, →DOI, pages 706–708:

(bees) In the subfamily Xylocopinae of carpenter bees.


varroa

These bees are resistant to varroa.

Swarms were reasonably common place in rural areas when New Zealand had a large feral bee population but few wild bees now survive due to varroa disease.

2009 January 29, Don Farmer, “Shop forced to shut as bees swarm”, in Wairarapa Times-Age:

(beekeeping, chiefly New Zealand) Infestation with the mite Varroa destructor, or the disease caused by such mites.

varroatosis

condition of infestation of a colony by Varroa mites


waggle dance

Honeybees, with their intricate social behaviour and waggle dance, have long been considered smarter than the average bug.

2006 May 27, NewScientist, page 8, column 1:

A dance in the form of a figure eight performed by the honey bee in order to communicate the direction and distance of patches of flowers, water sources, etc. that are more than 100 metres distant from the hive.


mason bee

Any of the bees of the genus Osmia, which have the habit of making compartments of mud in their nests.


sacbrood

A viral disease in honey bees which affects the larvae, causing them to shrivel up and become scalelike.

Diseases of the honey bee#Sacbrood virus (SBV)


apitherapy

The medical use of bee products such as honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly, and bee venom.


antiqueen

If the queen dies there is no longer any "antiqueen" pheromone released and one or more of the nymphs develop into queens.

The composition of a bee society is controlled by an antiqueen pheromone secreted by the queen. It inhibits the workers from raising a new queen...

Inhibiting the development of normal bees into queen bees.


megachilid

(zoology) Any of the family Megachilidae of mostly solitary bees whose scopa is restricted to the ventral surface of the abdomen.


tremble dance

A dance performed by the honey bee in order to recruit more bees to collect nectar from the workers.


honeybag

good monsieur, get your weapons in your hand, and kill me a red-hipped humble-bee on the top of a thistle; and, good monsieur, bring me the honey-bag

c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

A pouch in a honey bee where it stores honey.


skaddon

Borrowed from Ancient Greek σχαδών (skhadṓn, “larva of the bee or wasp”).

bor+

The reaſon is, that the vveather keeping them in, they can doe nothing but breed and hatch their schadons: and when they goe abroad, they bring in groſſe Bee meat, Ambroſia and vvater, vvherewith to feed them; but can finde nothing fit to lay vp in ſtore.

1623, Charles Butler, The Feminine Monarchie, London: Joseph Haviland, page 92:

This is a way hath been practised by the Ancients, and hath been much endeavoured after to be revived again, though not with any good success; for if you take away any part of their Combs in the Spring, they are then full of Skaddons, which spoil the Honey, and also destroy the breed of your Bees.

1669, John Worlidge, Systema Agriculturae, London: J. C., published 1675, page 186:

One ſays, in September, or any Time after they have done breeding (elſe the Honey will be corrupted by the Shaddens in the Combs) […]

1742, William Ellis, The Modern Husbandman, London: T. Osborne; M. Cooper, published 1744, page 107:

(UK, dialect, obsolete) The larva of a bee.


king of insects

(often capitalised as “King of Insects”, as is the convention for monarchic titles) The bee.


topbar

(beekeeping) One of a set of parallel bars, at the top of a beehive, to which the bees attach their comb.


euglossine

(zoology) Of or relating to the Euglossini, or orchid bees


xylocopid

(zoology) Any in the family Xylocopidae of carpenter bees, now considered the apid subfamily Xylocopinae.


anthophorid

(zoology) Any bee in the family Anthophoridae, now considered part of the family Apidae.


andrenid

(zoology) Any member of the family Andrenidae of bees.


colletid

(zoology) Any member of the family Colletidae of solitary bees.


ctenoplectrid

Larval characters should be reanalyzed in light of recent information presented by Michener and Greenberg (1980) that indicates ctenoplectrids are the sister group of the long-tongued bee families (Figure 2).

1989, Ronald J. McGinley, A Catalog and Review of Immature Apoidea (Hymenoptera), page 5:

Obligate parasitism of other bees has arisen in halictids, megachilids, anthophorids, apids, and perhaps a few colletids and ctenoplectrids.

1989, David W. Roubik, Ecology and Natural History of Tropical Bees, published 1992, page 249:

Melittid bees have “hair felt” patches on their legs that take up floral oils by capillarity, while the unusual ctenoplectrids have abdominal oil-mopping hairs.

2011, Pat Willmer, Pollination and Floral Ecology, page 222:

(zoology) Any bee of the tribe Ctenoplectrini (especially when the latter is, as formerly by some, regarded as the family Ctenoplectridae).


halictid

A single Eleodes hispilabris (apparently on its last leg) was seen near the north end of the mesa, which I photographed and collected, and on the way back I encountered a small patch of Sphaeralcea coccinea (scarlet globemallow) in bloom, from the flowers of which I collected a few small melyrid-type beetles and a small halictid bee for Mike.

2022 May 14, Ted C. MacRae, Cupressaceae:

(zoology) Any member of the family Halictidae, many of which are known as sweat bees.


meliponid

(zoology) Any bee in the family Meliponidae, now considered to be the apid tribe Meliponini.


melittid

Regarding the transport sites, apids, melittids, ctenoplectrids, and megachilids all show little variation whereas the other bee families display wide variation.

1992, David W. Roubik, editor, Ecology and Natural History of Tropical Bees, page 45:

In further support of the antiquity of this clade is the widely disjunct distribution of some of its basal members among the dasypodaine melittids, as indicated in Sections 26 and 68 and Michener (1981a).

2000, Charles Duncan Michener, The Bees of the World, volume 1, page 95:

The relatively good fossil representation of melittids and their long-tongued associates has been argued to be a reflection of a bias in favour of resin-collecting bees.

2010, Geoff Williams, Paul Adam, The Flowering of Australia's Rainforests: A Plant and Pollination Miscellany, page 105:

(zoology) Any bee of the family Melittidae.


stenotritid

(zoology) Any bee in the family Stenotritidae (now subfamily Stenotritinae in Colletidae).


apple bee

(US) A social gathering of farmers to help gather in the apple harvest, or process the fruit.


Carniolan honeybee

en-noun

Carniolan honeybee (plural Carniolan honeybees)

Apis mellifera carnica, a subspecies of the western honeybee


beeling

Herein must go an egg and food for the beeling that shall hatch therefrom.

1906, Harper's magazine, volume 113, page 593:

[...] in which the pollen is gathered and carried to the cells to feed the hungry little larvae or beelings when they are hatched from the egg.

1907, Henry Christopher McCook, Nature's craftsmen:


monolectic

en-adj

monolectic (comparative more monolectic, superlative most monolectic)

more monolectic (comparative)
most monolectic (superlative)

A polylectic term is a multi-word term, as opposed to a monolectic term which is a one-word term.

(grammar) Of or relating to a term consisting of one word; one-worded, singleworded.


plasterer bee

The plasterer bees, as we have seen, line the interior walls of their subterranean chambers with a waterproof wallpaper; others achieve a similar result by impregnating the cell walls with a glandular secretion or coating them with a waxy material.

1974, Karl von Frisch, Otto von Frisch, Animal Architecture, page 68:

Plasterer bees build mud nests in the mouldings, butterflies brush the scenery with brilliant colour — lemon-yellow brimstones, dappled whites, large tortoiseshells and swallowtails are all there for the spotting.

1989, Pamela Westland, Exploring Rural Greece, page 27:

Like masked bees, plasterer bees (Colletinae) line their rows of cells with a mixture of saliva and glandular secretion that hardens into a cellophane-like membrane.[…]Each female plasterer bee fashions roughly ten brood cells separated by plaster-like walls and leaves a honey-pollen clump and one egg in every cell (see the bottom of Figure 5.1).

2002, Karl Weiss, The Little Book of Bees, page 48:

Any bee of the subfamily Colletinae, solitary bees that secrete a substance from their mouthparts to give a cellophane-like lining to their nests.


bee mother

From bee + mother, possibly as a calque of Old English bēomōdor (“queen bee”).

calque

[…] but how much more so when it must be acknowledged, that it is all owing to one female, and that this queen-bee, or bee-mother, alone, has given origin to such an immense progeny?

The youngest of the sisters—the one at the bottom—is only a tiny egg, which the bee-mother has laid in the cell.

1900, Allen Walton Gould, Mother Nature's Children, page 156:

The bee family is divided into three sections, the "queens," or bee-mothers, the drones, or male bees, and the workers. The duty of the "queen," or bee-mother, is to keep the hive well supplied with workers.

1903, Lilla Elizabeth Kelley, Three Hundred Things a Bright Girl Can Do, page 577:

Astonishingly, bee mothers can decide whether the egg they lay will develop into a male or female.

2019, Alison Benjamin, Brian McCallum, The Good Bee:

Imagine a monogamous bee mother and her supersister daughters (figure 6.2) who are preferentially helping their mother rear more supersisters (rₕₑₗₚ = 0.75): […]

2024, Keith S. Delaplane, Honey Bee Social Evolution:

March is the time of Wihlaxs, Black Bear's Walking Moon. Nox Ap, the bee mother, awakens from her winter slumber along the realm of Xsan, the River of Mists. Nox Ap seems to appear from the great beyond as the bumblebee queen crawls out of her warm hiding space.

2024, Hetxw’ms Gyetxw Brett D. Huson, The Bee Mother:

(rare) A queen bee (perceived as the mother of the hive)


upholsterer bee

en-noun

upholsterer bee (plural upholsterer bees)


poppy bee

So-called because it uses pieces cut from poppy petals for the lining of its nest.


Franklin's bumblebee

Franklin's bumblebee (plural Franklin's bumblebees)

Named after American entomologist Henry J. Franklin, who monographed many bees throughout North & South America in the early 20th century.

named-after

Bombus franklini, an endangered bee of the western United States.


bee escape

Bee escapes have a long history in bee removal. These are simply one-way doors—bees leave a honey super and can't return, or at least they can't return the same way they left.

2009, Kim Flottum, The Backyard Beekeeper's Honey Handbook, page 67:

(apiculture) A panel having holes or mesh allowing bees to be removed from a hive before honey is harvested.


chalkbrood

A fungal disease of honey bees that gives the bodies of affected larvae a white and chalky appearance.


cloudy wing virus

collapsing colonies
colony collapse disorder

An icosahedral virus commonly found in honey bees, especially in collapsing colonies infested with Varroa destructor.


deformed wing virus

An RNA virus affecting the honey bee, causing shrunken and deformed wings in the pupa.


disappearing disease

An unexplained phenomenon marked by a decrease in bee populations.


sarothrum

/səˈɹɑθ.ɹəm/

Borrowed from Ancient Greek σάρωτρον (sárōtron, “a broom”).

bor

Any of the stiff hairs on a bee that collect pollen.


carpenter bee

A bee of the subfamily Xylocopinae, that burrows in dead wood.


short-haired bumblebee

en-noun

short-haired bumblebee (plural short-haired bumblebees)

The short-haired bumblebee vanished from the UK in 1988, having suffered declines over the previous 60 years as its habitat was lost, and was officially declared locally extinct in 2000.

A species of bumblebee, Bombus subterraneus, native to Eurasia.


buff-tailed bumblebee

buff-tailed bumblebee (plural buff-tailed bumblebees)

Parting the glossy leaves I discovered a buff-tailed bumblebee ensnared in an orb web.

2016 July 8, Claire Stares, The Guardian:

Any of species Bombus terrestris of bumblebees common across large parts of Europe.


bee beard

A large number of honey bees depending from a person's face so as to resemble a beard; a common sideshow demonstration.


common carder bee

common carder bee (countable and uncountable, plural common carder bees)

This common carder bee was spotted in Southville, Bristol by Neil James Brain as part of the 2016 count.

2018 May 25, Eric Hilaire, The Guardian:

A species of bumblebee, Bombus pascuorum, long recognised as an example of the carder bees.


violet carpenter bee

violet carpenter bee (plural violet carpenter bees)

A species (Xylocopa violacea) of the carpenter bee that is most common in Europe.


meliponine

Any (stingless) bee of the tribe Meliponini.


sweat bee

Any of various bees that are attracted to the salt in human sweat, principally Halictidae spp.


beemageddon

Now, a new study has pinpointed some of the probable causes of bee deaths and the rather scary results show that averting beemageddon will be much more difficult than previously thought.

2013 September, Todd Woody, “Scientists discover what’s killing the bees and it’s worse than you thought”, in The Beekeepers Quarterly, page 41:

You've probably heard about Beemageddon. Over the past few years, colony collapse disorder – thought to be brought on by a pernicious combination of overwork, bad weather, pesticides and infestations of parasitic varroa mites – has been threatening to wipe out honeybees all over the world, and with them many of our food crops.

2013 November 16, Caroline Williams, “I, bee bot”, in New Scientist, page 43:

The harrowing mystery of CCD [colony collapse disorder] carried on for the next two years, spawning documentaries, reports from major news networks, magazine features, and various “Beemageddon” hoopla surrounding the bees' steady decline […]

2017, David MacNeal, Bugged: The Insects Who Rule the World and the People Obsessed with Them, pages 253–254:

colony collapse disorder
colony collapse disorder

(informal) The widespread incidence of colony collapse disorder, feared to portend a coming mass extinction of honeybees.


beepocalypse

Yet the media has peddled alarming stories of a “beepocalypse” — a crash in honeybee populations.

2015 May 25, Dany Kelley, “Ounce of prevention won't help honeybees”, in Farmweek, page 16:

The numbers suggest Canada's beekeeping industry is in good shape while the Americans are struggling with a “beepocalypse,” but a U.S. expert says the story is more complicated.

2016 August 18, Robert Arnason, “Winter bee losses decline, summer losses still mystery”, in The Western Producer, page 14:

In the decade since, there's been a boom in beekeeping, with new hives offsetting losses of old hives, staving off the “beepocalypse,” Ellis says.

2019, Cindy Spence, "Hive Help", Explore (University of Florida), Spring 2019, page 20


kootchar

A stingless Australian bee, Trigona australis


long-faced miner bee

long-faced miner bee (plural long-faced miner bees)

Andrena nevadensis, a species of miner bee.


southeastern blueberry bee

southeastern blueberry bee (plural southeastern blueberry bees)

Habropoda laboriosa, a species of bee found in the southeastern United States.


coppice mining bee

coppice mining bee (plural coppice mining bees)

Andrena helvola, a species of mining bee.


blood bee

A black-and-red bee of the genus Sphecodes.


alkali bee

Nomia melanderi, a bee that nests in alkaline soil.


carder bee

carder bee (countable and uncountable, plural carder bees)

(entomology) Common name for any species of bee in the genus Bombus or in the family Wikipedia:Megachilidae, that collects plant fibre and processes it for nesting material, by activities resembling the carding of fibre.

1923 A.D.IMMS A GENERAL TEXTBOOK OF ENTOMOLOGY
Other Bombi, known as carder bees, form surface nests hidden away among grass, ivy or other herbage. They derive their name from their habit of collecting moss and other material used in nest formation and plaiting it with the aid of their legs and mandibles. Having formed the nest the next act of the queen is to collect a mass of pollen which is formed into a paste. Upon the top of this substance she constructs a circular wall of wax and, in the cell thus formed, she lays her first batch of eggs, capping the latter over with a covering of wax.

(entomology) Common name mainly applied to some Bombus species in the northern hemisphere, where they occur widely and are the most familiar species of bees that exhibit carding activity in their nest building, rather than genera such as Anthidium in the Megachilidae, some of which occur in the Northern hemisphere as well and similarly exhibit carding activity .

1979 S.H Skaife. Revised by John Ledger: African Insect Life. →ISBN
The little carder bees of the genus Immanthidium also belong to the Megachilidae. They are mostly black with white markings on the abdomen, and with a white pollen brush on the underside of the abdomen. In some species the males are bigger than the females, an unusual feature among insects. Most of them make their nests in tubular openings, in sites similar to those chosen by the leafcutters, but their cells are lined with cottony fibres which they strip with their mandibles from various hairy plants. As an example of the group we can consider the widespread species, Immanthidium junodi.
The female carder bee arrives at her home carrying a little bundle of white fluff between her front legs. She takes this into her nest and cards the fibrous material by pressing it with her head and working it with her jaws until it forms a thin, uniform, thimble-shaped lining to the bottom of the tube. It takes several journeys before her beautiful white thimble is complete, ready to receive its store of food. She carries the pollen back to the nest on the underside of her abdomen and the nectar in her crop and stocks the cell with the mixture. It takes her about two days to construct and stock a cell; she then lays an egg on top of the food and closes the cell with a pad of fluff, well carded and felted. She fills the tube with cells within 10 mm from the entrance and then seals it off with a thick pad of fibres, pressed down firmly by her head and jaws to form a protective barrier to keep out enemies.

(entomology) In the southern hemisphere, where Bombus species occur only exceptionally, the common name most familiarly applied to species of bees that exhibit carding activity in their nest building, and are members of genera in the Megachilidae, such as Anthidium, Immanthidium and Afranthidium


oil-digger

A bee of the genus Centris, native to the Americas.


Sonoran bumble bee

Sonoran bumble bee (plural Sonoran bumble bees)

Sonoran + bumble bee, a calque of translingual Bombus sonorus.

Bombus sonorus, a species of bumble bee found from the southern United States into Central America.