| 释义 |
▪ I. bee1|biː|
Forms: 1–3 béo, 3–9 bee (5 by, 5–6 be, 6 bey). pl. bees: also 1–2 beon, 3–7 been, 4 bene, bein, 6 beene.
[Com. Teut.: OE. béo = OHG. bîa (G. dial. beie), MLG. bîe, LG. bigge, MDu. bie, Du. bij, all fem.; ON. bý (? neut.):—OTeut. *bîôn- or biôn; beside which there is OHG. bini neut., MHG. bine, bin, fem., mod.G. biene:—OTeut. *bini; all going back to root bi-, perh. = Aryan bhi- ‘to fear,’ in the sense of ‘quivering,’ or its development ‘buzzing, humming.’]
1. a. A well-known insect, or rather genus of insects, of the Hymenopterous order, living in societies composed of one queen, or perfect female, a small number of males or ‘drones,’ and an indefinite number of undeveloped females or ‘neuters’ (which are the workers), all having four wings; they produce wax, and collect honey, which they store up for food in the winter.
a1000Ags. Ps. cxvii. 12 Þá hí me ymbsealdon samod..swá béon. a1100Ags. Gloss. in Wülcker Voc. 318 Apis, beo. c1275Pains of Hell in O.E. Misc. 148 Þickure hi hongeþ þer ouer-al Þan don been in wynterstal. a1300Cursor M. 7113 In leon muth he fand, was slain, A bike o bees [v.r. bes] þar-in be-bredd. 1382Wyclif Deut. i. 44 As been [1388 bees] ben wont to be pursued. c1430Lydg. Bochas i. xix. (1554) 35 b, A swarm of been entred on his head. 1481–90Howard Househ. Bks. (1844) 207 Paid..to Jodge for a heve for beys iiij. d. 1535Coverdale Ecclus. xi. 2 The Bey is but a small beast amonge the foules, yet is hir frute exceadinge swete. 1538Starkey England ii. i. 153 Delytyng in idulnes as a drowne Be doth. 1609C. Butler Fem. Mon. (1634) 139 Whoso keep well Sheep and Been, Sleep or wake, their thrift comes in. 1697Dryden Georg. iv. 801 A buzzing noise of Bees his Ears alarms. 1855Longfellow Hiaw. xxii. 11 Passed the bees, the honey-makers.
b. Often used as the type of busy workers.
1535Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 445 Now ar tha maid als bissie as ane be. 1580Baret Alv. To Rdr., A great volume which (for the apt similitude betweene the good Scholers and diligent Bees) I called then their Aluearie, for a memorial by whom it was made. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. vii. §24 V. 137 The Popish Clergy..were as busie as Bees, newly ready to swarme. c1720Watts Div. Songs, How doth the little busy bee Improve each shining hour! 1807Crabbe Par. Reg. iii. 150 Busy and careful, like that working bee.
c. A model or image of this insect.
1816J. Scott Vis. Paris 239 The remains found in the tomb of Childeric, were chiefly gold bees, from which Buonaparte took the hint of covering his mantle..with representations of that insect.
d. One of the southern constellations, so figured.
2. Applied to a large group of allied insects, chiefly with a distinguishing epithet, e.g. Humble Bee, Mason Bee, Carpenter Bee, etc.; in scientific use, including all insects of the Melliferous or honey-gathering division of the Aculeate (or sting-bearing) Hymenoptera, and comprising two families, the Social Bees or Apidae, and Solitary Bees or Andrænidæ.
c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 308 Feld beon huniᵹ meng to somne. 1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. (1557) 502/1 Till either some blind bettle, or some holy humble bee come flye in at their mouthes. 1802Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) III. 275 The Garden Bee. 1847Carpenter Zool. §697 Of the solitary bees,..there are many curious varieties; some of which go under the names of Mason, Carpenter, and Upholsterer Bees, from the materials on which they respectively work. 1861Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. v. ii. 279 The Humble Bees are larger than the Bees.
3. fig.
a. A sweet writer.
b. A busy worker.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Bee, Xenophon is called the Attic bee. 1791–1824Disraeli Cur. Lit. (1866) 319/2 A complete collection of classical works, all the bees of antiquity..may be hived in a single glass case.
c. ‘A lump of a yeast (Saccharomyces pyriformis) intermittently rising and releasing bubbles in brew;—usually in pl.’ (Webster 1934). So bee wine (see quot. 1960).
1923Harmsworth's Househ. Encycl. I. 312/2 Bee wine is a modern name for the fermented drink produced by what was known as the ginger beer plant. Ibid., In its dry, inert condition the bee is a shapeless mass of gelatinous material. 1938R. Graves Count Belisarius x. 206 The Massagetic Huns carried with them what is called a ‘bee’, a sort of yeast that they put into mare's milk to make it ferment. 1960A. E. Bender Dict. Nutrition 16/1 Bee wine, wine produced by the usual alcoholic fermentation of sugar, but using yeast in the form of a clump of yeast and lactic bacteria. The clump rises and falls with bubbles of carbon dioxide produced, hence the ‘bee’.
4. In allusion to the social character of the insect (originally in U.S.): A meeting of neighbours to unite their labours for the benefit of one of their number; e.g. as is done still in some parts, when the farmers unite to get in each other's harvests in succession; usually preceded by a word defining the purpose of the meeting, as apple-bee, husking-bee, quilting-bee, raising-bee, etc. Hence, with extended sense: A gathering or meeting for some object; esp. spelling-bee, a party assembled to compete in the spelling of words. lynching bee: see lynching vbl. n.
1769Boston Gaz. 16 Oct. (Th.), Last Thursday about twenty young Ladies met at the house of Mr. L. on purpose for a Spinning Match; (or what is called in the Country a Bee). 1809W. Irving Knickerb. Wks. I. 238 Now were instituted quilting bees and husking bees and other rural assemblages. 1830Galt Laurie T. (1849) III. v. 98, I made a bee; that is, I collected as many of the most expert and able-bodied of the settlers to assist at the raising. 1864C. M. Yonge Trial II. 281 She is gone out with Cousin Deborah to an apple bee. 1876Lubbock Educ. in Contemp. Rev. June 91 He may be invincible at a spelling bee. 1884Harper's Mag. Sept. 510/2 This execution,..in Idaho phrase was a ‘hanging-bee.’
5. a. To have bees in the head or the brains, a bee in one's bonnet: i.e. a fantasy, an eccentric whim, a craze on some point, a ‘screw loose.’ (Cf. maggot, and F. grille.)
1513Douglas æneis viii, Prol. 120 Quhat bern be thou in bed with heid full of beis? a1553Udall Roister D. (Arb.) 29 Who so hath suche bees as your maister in hys head. 1657S. Colvil Whigs Supplic. (1751) 74 Which comes from brains which have a bee. 1724Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (ed. 9) II. 119 But thy wild bees I canna please. 1845De Quincey Coleridge & Opium Wks. XII. 91 John Hunter, notwithstanding he had a bee in his bonnet, was really a great man.
b. bee's knee: (a) a type of something small or insignificant; (b) pl. (slang, orig. U.S.), the acme of excellence; ‘the cat's whiskers’; to put the bee on (slang, chiefly U.S.): (a) to quash, put an end to; to beat; (b) to ask for a loan from, to borrow money from (cf. sting v.1 2 e).
1797Mrs. Townley Ward Let. 27 June in N. & Q. (1896) X. 260 It cannot be as big as a bee's knee. 1870G. M. Hopkins Jrnl. (1937) 133 Br. Yates gave me the following Irish expressions... As weak as a bee's knee. 1894G. F. Northall Folk-phrases 7 As big as a bee's knee. 1923H. C. Witwer Fighting Blood iii. 101 You're the bee's knees, for a fact! 1936H. L. Mencken Amer. Lang. (ed. 4) 561 The flea's eyebrows, the bee's knees and the canary's tusks will be recalled. 1958Times 15 Aug. 9/4 Lord Montgomery..holds that to label anything the ‘cat's whiskers’ is to confer on it the highest honour, and the ‘bee's knees’ is not far behind it as a compliment.
1918H. C. Witwer Baseball to Boches 131 It's always open season for Americans over here. They sure know how to put the bee on you too. 1923L. J. Vance Baroque xxvii. 264 I've heard a heap of fairy tales in my time..but this puts the bee on the lot. 1927Wodehouse in Sunday Express 23 Oct. 9 The old boy..got the idea that I was off my rocker, and put the bee on the proceedings. 1929Amer. Speech IV. 338 ‘To put the bee on’, means to beg. 1931G. Irwin Amer. Tramp & Underworld Slang 25 To say ‘I put the bee on him’ usually means that the donor has been ‘stung’, when he gives up the loan, since seldom is it repaid. 1936J. Curtis Gilt Kid v. 47 If a bloke had come up and put the bee on him all the handout would have been..a lousy tanner.
c. bees and honey: rhyming slang for ‘money’.
1892Answers 10 Sept. 276/1 ‘Bees and honey’..for ‘money’. 1935‘L. Luard’ Conq. Seas iii. 47 A skipper's life ain't all bees and honey. 1944Amer. Speech XIX. 191/1. 1960 J. Ashford Counsel for Defence v. 65 D'you reckon we'd waste good bees and honey on a slump like you for nothing.
6. Comb. and attrib. General relations:
a. attrib., as bee-book, bee-comb, bee-garden, bee-grub, bee-house, bee-mouth, bee-palace, bee-sting, bee-swarm, bee-woman, bee-yard; bee-winged adj.b. objective with vbl. n. or agent-noun, as bee-culture, bee-farming, bee-fumigator, bee-herd, bee-hunt, bee-hunter, bee-hunting, bee-keeper, bee-keeping, bee-owner, bee-shepherd, bee-ward; instrumental, as bee-beset, bee-infested, bee-studded, bee-thronged.
1870Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 383 The *bee-beset ripe-seeded grass.
1870Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. i. (1873) 84 The teaching of the latest *bee-book.
1882Harper's Mag. Dec. 63/1 *Bee-culture is an important industry.
1908Wodehouse & Westbrook Globe by Way Book 124 Lord Sangazure has tired already of his latest hobby, *bee-farming.
1609Gd. Speed to Virginia 13 The maister of the *bee-garden..reapeth a greater gaine by his waxe and honie. a1750Mortimer (J.) A convenient..place..for your apiary or bee-garden.
1672Phil. Trans. VII. 5060 The *Bee-grubbs actually feed on Mites.
1483Cath. Angl. 26 *Beehyrd, apiaster. 1861Pearson Early & Mid. Ages Eng. 201 It was preferable to be tenant of a holding rather than a swine-herd or bee-herd.
1675Lond. Gaz. No. 987/4 A new Invention for the Improvement of Bees, by certain *Bee-houses and Colonies. 1851Gard. Chron. 755 A very convenient bee-house.
1835W. Irving Tour on Prairies ix. 61 (heading) A *bee hunt. 1837― Capt. Bonneville I. ii. 52 These frontier settlers..prepare for a bee hunt.
1776Phil. Trans. LXVII. 44 The *bee-hunters never fail to leave a small portion for their conductor. 1954J. R. R. Tolkien Two Towers 67 Bear bee-hunter, boar the fighter.
1824W. N. Blane Excursion U.S. 239 It is a favourite amusement..to go *bee-hunting.
a1882Emerson Fragm. Nature in Poems (1904) 343 *Bee-infested quince or plum. 1950D. Gascoyne Vagrant 61 A loud Bee-Infested Lion-skin.
1817Kirby & Spence Entomol. II. xx. 211 It is a saying of *bee-keepers in Holland, that [etc.]. 1937Discovery June 191/2 The most enthusiastic bee-keepers.
1839Sat. Mag. 23 Feb. 69 The Economy of *Bee-Keeping.
a1821Keats Melancholy 24 Pleasure..Turning to poison while the *bee-mouth sips.
1845Gard. Chron. (1845) 171 Grove's American *bee-palace is similar to the collateral hive.
1689P. Henry Diaries & Lett. (1882) 346 Your Mother hath been afflicted this night with a *Bee-sting.
1881Wilde Burden of Itys in Poems 68 Brown *bee-studded orchids.
1910Kipling Rewards & Fairies p. x, Winter's *bee-thronged ivy-bloom.
c1500Cocke Lorelles B. 10 Mole sekers, and ratte takers; *Bewardes. 1883Green Conq. Eng. 330 The bee-ward received his dues from the store of honey.
1923E. Sitwell Bucolic Comedies 40 The *bee-wing'd warm afternoon.
1833H. Martineau Br. Creek iii. 52 The *bee-women laughed in anticipation of their sport.
c1420Pallad. on Husb. i. 1009 The *Bee-yerd be not ferre, but faire asyde Gladsum, secrete, and hoote. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 179 About the Beeyard, and neare to the hives, set flowers.
7. Special comb.: bee-bike (Sc.), a wild bee's nest; bee-bird, the Spotted Fly-catcher, also a humming-bird; bee-bonneted a., having a bee in his bonnet, somewhat crazed; bee-cell, one of the hexagonal cells of the comb; bee-cuckoo, an African bird (Cuculus Indicator), also called ‘Honey-guide,’ which indicates the nests of wild bees; bee-driving, the driving of bees into an empty hive; bee-feeder, a contrivance for feeding bees within the hive; bee-fertilized a., (of flowers) having their pollen conveyed to the stigma by the agency of bees; bee-flower, a flower loved, visited, or fertilized by bees, spec. the Wall-flower; also, a flower resembling a bee, the Bee Orchis; bee-fly, a two-winged fly resembling a bee, esp. certain of the Bombylidæ and Syrphidæ; bee-fold, an enclosure for hives; bee-glue, the glue-like substance with which bees fill up crevices, and fix the combs to the hives, propolis; bee-gum, a term in parts of U.S. for a bee-hive (orig. a hollow gum tree or log housing a swarm of bees); bee-hawk, a bird of prey (Pernis apivora), also called Honey Buzzard; also a clear-wing hawk-moth (Sesia fuciformis), something resembling a wild bee; also bee-hawk-moth; bee-head, a crazy pate; hence bee-headed; bee-larkspur (see quot.); bee-like a., resembling a bee; bee-line, a straight line between two points on the earth's surface, such as a bee was supposed instinctively to take in returning to its hive; bee-loud a., resonant with the hum of bees; bee-louse, an insect of the family Braulidæ, parasitic on bees, esp. Braula cœca; bee-maggot, the larva of a bee; bee-man, a bee-keeper; bee-master, a keeper of bees, an apiarian; so bee-mistress; bee-moth U.S., Galleria mellonella: = wax-moth (see wax n.1 13); bee-nettle, species of Dead-nettle much visited by bees; bee-orchis, a plant (Ophrys apifera) noted for the resemblance of part of its flower to a bee; bee-range U.S., a row of beehives; bee-skep (-scap), a straw bee-hive; bee-smoker, a bee-keeper's apparatus for driving smoke into a hive to stupefy the bees while the honeycomb is being removed; † bee-stall, a bee-hive; bee-tree orig.U.S., a tree in which bees have hived; bee-wine, nectar of a flower. See also bee-bread, -eater, -hive, bees-wax, -wing.
1837R. Nicoll Poems (1843) 95 Nae apples he pu'ed now, nae *bee-bikes he knowed.
1789G. White Selborne ix. (1853) 181 These vast migrations, consist not only of hirundines, but of *bee-birds. 1850Browning Xmas Eve & Easter D. 240 The bee-bird and the aloe-flower!
1856Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh i. 1097 Whom men judge hardly as *bee-bonneted, because he holds, etc.
1868Wood Homes without H. xxiii. 427 The primary object of the *bee-cell is to serve as a storehouse and a nursery.
1786tr. Sparrman's Voy. II. 186 The *bee-cuckow (Cuculus Indicator)..deserves to have more particular notice. 1802Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) II. 125 The Bee Cuckoo, in its external appearance, does not much differ from the common sparrow.
1884Pall Mall G. 12 July 10/2 A sum of money which will enable them to give demonstrations of *bee-driving.
1881F. Darwin in Nature XXIII. 334 The spread of the *bee-fertilised ancestors.
1852T. Harris Insects New Eng. 484 The *bee-flies..often hover..over the early flowers, sucking out the honey thereof.
1609C. Butler Fem. Mon. (1623) ii. E iij, The vnequall leuelling of the ground, in a great *Bee-fold is best. 1940C. Day Lewis tr. Virgil's Georgics iv. 82 Shoo the drones—that work-shy gang—away from the bee-folds.
1598Florio, Propoli, that which Bees make at the entrance of the hiues to keepe out cold, called *Beeglue. 1658Rowland Mouffet's Theat. Ins. 907 Wax, Bee-bread, Bee-glew, Rosin, etc.
1817M. L. Weems Lett. (1929) III. 215 To be run..round & round the circumference of a *Bee-Gum. 1859Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), Bee-gum, in the South and West, a term originally applied to a species of the gum-tree from which bee-hives were made; and now to beehives made of any kind of boards. 1884Cent. Mag. Jan. 442/2 The bees were for the most part rudely hived in cross sections of the gum-tree..whence..a bee-hive of any kind is often called a bee-gum.
1837Mac Gillivray Hist. Brit. Birds III. 259 *Bee-Hawk is of rare occurrence in any part of Britain. 1857H. T. Stainton Brit. Butterfl. & Moths I. 99 Sesia fuciformis, Broad-bordered Bee-Hawk.
1815Kirby & Spence Entomol. I. vi. 207 The *bee-hawk-moth (Sesia apiformis, F.)..feeds upon the poplar.
1657S. Colvil Whigs Supplic. (1751) 135 Ye sectaries, quoth he, have *bee-heads.
1879Jamieson s.v., Ye needna mind him, he's a *bee-headit bodie.
1846J. W. Loudon Ladies' Comp. Fl. Gard. 37 The *Bee Larkspurs..their petals are folded up in the centre of the flower, so as to resemble a bee or a blue-bottle-fly.
1657S. Purchas' Pol. Flying-Ins. Pref. Verses, To the Learned Author of this *Bee-like laborious Treatise. 1823Byron Juan xi. viii, That bee-like, bubbling, busy hum Of cities.
1830Massachusetts Spy 24 Nov. (Th.), The squirrel took a *bee line, and reached the ground six feet ahead. a1849Poe Gold-Beetle, Tales I. 44 A bee-line, or, in other words, a straight line, drawn..to a distance of fifty feet. 1870Emerson Soc. & Solit. x. 219 Men, who, almost as soon as they are born, take a bee-line to the rack of the inquisitor. 1882J. Hawthorne Fort. Fool i. viii, This disreputable clergyman would make a bee-line for Castlemere.
1890Yeats Lake Isle of Innisfree i, [I will] live alone in the *bee-loud glade.
1840J. & M. Loudon tr. Köllar's Treat. Insects i. 74 A bee infested with a *bee-louse, endeavours..to get rid of such an unwished-for guest. 1875J. Hunter Man. Bee-keeping xxx. 198 On the Continent of Europe a small insect known as the Bee-louse, Braula Cœca, often infects the Bees.
1679Plot Staffordsh. (1686) 221 Of the corruption of which *bee-maggots..are bred.
1861Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. IV. 82 Our best *bee men. 1928Daily Tel. 11 May 19/5 Uncontrolled swarming..is not permitted by the experienced modern beeman.
1658Rowland Mouffet's Theat. Ins. 902 The *Bee-masters with clapping of their hands, and with the sound of the brasse. 1866Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xviii. 399 The bee-master was apparently as rare as he is at present.
1859Edin. Rev. CIX. 301 The *bee-mistresses..gain a living by their honey in many rural districts.
1829Massachusetts Spy 27 May (Th.), Instinct teaches the *bee-moth to secrete herself, during the day, in the corners of the hive. 1838H. Colman Rep. Agric. Mass. 71 The bee moth is to be guarded against by making the crevices of the hive tight with putty or glue. 1862T. W. Harris Insects Injur. Veget. 489 The group called Crambidæ, or Crambians, among which the bee-moth or wax-moth is to be placed.
1597Gerard Herbal i. ci. §1. 163 *Bees Orchis or Satyrion. 1857Hughes Tom Brown i, Not one in twenty of you knows where to find the..bee-orchis..on the down.
1845S. Judd Margaret iii. 402 In the garden is a large *Bee-range.
a1640Day Parl. Bees (1881) 44 And set fier of all there *Beeskepps. 1822Steam-Boat 83 (Jam.) My head was bizzing like a bee-scap.
1897Westm. Gaz. 7 Aug. 8/1 A *bee-smoker filled with tobacco and brown paper.
1572J. Bossewell Armorie iii. 18 b, The weasel..is..a destroyer of *Beestals, and eateth up their honey.
1782St. John de Crèvecœur Lett. 37 If we find..what is called a *bee-tree, we must mark it. 1834Brackenridge Recoll. xii. 129 A harmless fellow, who followed hunting bee trees on the mountains for a living. 1849W. Irving Crayon Misc. 49 Honey, the spoils of a plundered bee-tree.
1818Keats Endymion iv. Honeysuckles full of clear *bee-wine.
▸ bee-stung adj. colloq. (orig. and chiefly U.S.) (of a woman's lips) attractively full and red, naturally pouting.
1858G. A. Sala Journey due North xvi. 351 The Russian beauties are either of Circassian, Georgian, or Mingrelian origin—dark-eyed, dark skinned, full *bee-stung lipped, and generally Houri-looking; or they are the rounded German-Frauleins. 1920Photoplay July 103/1 Mae Murry [sic]... The blonde with the bee-stung lips—originally so-called by this magazine, but since by many others—has one more picture to make. 1953S. J. Perelman By Waters Razz-Ma-Tazz in New Yorker 3 Jan. 15/1, I remember bee-stung lips pouting out of a heavy mask of rice powder. 2000You & your Wedding Mar.–Apr. 64/1 Unfortunately, we're not all..blessed with flawless skin, bee-stung lips and come-to-bed eyes, so cheat on the big day!
▪ II. bee2|biː|
Forms: 1–2 béah, 3 beȝ, beie, beh, behȝ, 3–4 beȝe, 4 beygh, byȝe, bie, beeȝ, 5 beghe, be, bey, 4–5 by(e, 4–9 bee.
[Com. Teut.: OE. béaᵹ, béah = ON. baugr, OHG. bouc:—OTeut. *baugo-z ring, f. pret. stem of the vb. *bug-, baug-, to bow, bend (intr.). The modern form in south would prob. have been by, or bigh (cf. high, nigh): bee is the northern type.]
†1. A ring or torque of metal, usually meant for the arm or neck; but in one case at least used of a finger-ring. Obs.
c1009ælfric Gen. xxxviii. 18 Þinne hring & þine béah and þinne stæf. a1100in Wr.-Wülcker Voc. 313 Armilla, beah. c1175Lamb. Hom. 193 Þu ham ȝiuest..beies and gold ringes. 1205Lay. 24520 Enne beh of rede gold. Ibid. 21640 Behȝes [1250 beȝes] of golde. c1300K. Alis. 1572 Riche beyghes, besans, and pans. c1325E.E. Allit. P. A. 466 On arme oþer fynger, þaȝ þou ber byȝe. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. Prol. 161 Beren biȝes [v.r. beiȝes, behes, byes, beȝes] ful briȝte abouten here nekkes. 1382Wyclif Prov. i. 9 A beȝe [1388 bie] to thi necke. 1387Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. III. 331 A bye is torques in Latyn. c1440Morte Arth. (Roxb.) 84 Pomelles bryghte as goldis beghe. Ibid. 102 Wt many a besaunte, broche, and be. 1483Cath. Angl. 24 A Bee, armilla, brachiale. 1487Paston Lett. III. 464 A bee with a grete pearl. c1490Howard Househ. Bks. 394 Item, for beyes, roppe, and streyneres xjd. 1552Huloet, Bee or collar of gold or syluer, torques.
2. Nautical: bees, bee-blocks, bee-seating; see quot.
c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 74 At the outer end, and on each side of the bowsprit, inside the cap, bees and bee blocks are bolted, for the topmast stays to reeve through. Ibid. Where it rests on the stem is the bed, and the remainder the beeseating. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Bee, a ring or hoop of metal..Bee-blocks, pieces of hard wood, bolted to the outer end of the bowsprit, to reeve the fore mast stays through.
▪ III. bee3
The name of the letter B, used for ‘bloody’ (see bloody A. 10 and B. 2); so bee aitch, bloody hell; bee eff, bloody fool. slang.
1926Galsworthy Silver Spoon i. iii. 21 This is a bee map... Quite the bee-est map I ever saw. Ibid. iii. ii. 230 It's a bee nuisance. Ibid. 231 We have the best goods..and we must bee well deliver them. 1928― Swan Song i. vii, Mr. Blythe's continual remark: ‘What the bee aitch are they all about?’ 1960M. Cecil Something in Common i. 22 ‘Your mother's relations,’ he muttered, ‘bee effs, every one of 'em.’ |