beehive

plural beehives · alternative bee-hive

1. A sheltered place where bees, usually honey bees (genus Apis), live.
   1. Such a home prepared by the bees themselves, in which some species of honey bees live and raise their young.

      Synonyms: hive

   2. A man-made structure in which honey bees are kept so that humans can harvest their honey.

      The key-hole was still their port of egress and regress, and it resembled the aperture of a bee-hive, on a sunny day in June.

      1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 306

      Synonyms: hive, apiary, hive, skep

2. figurativelyAny place full of activity, or in which people are very busy.

   Synonyms: hive of activity

3. A women's hairstyle, popular in the 1960s, in which long hair is styled into a hive-shaped form on top of the head and usually held in place with lacquer.

   Synonyms: B-52

4. A particular style of hat.

   A very neat old woman, still in her good outdoor coat and best beehive hat, was sitting at a polished mahogany table on whose surface there were several scored scratches so deep that a triangular piece of the veneer had come cleanly away,[…].

   1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

5. A type of anti-personnel ammunition round containing flechettes, and characterised by the buzzing sound made as they fly through the air.

   By the time it was over, Stone had been blown thirty feet through the air by a beehive round as he was running across a field, knocked out by the concussion of the blast.

   2004, Martin Torgoff, “Next Stop is Vietnam”, in Can’t Find My Way Home: America in the Great Stoned Age, 1945–2000, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 179

6. New ZealandalternativenonstandardAlternative form of Beehive.

   Brian Small said that the Minister could not 'hide in the beehive any longer'

   2004, Nicholas Tarling, International Students in New Zealand, →ISBN, page 114

   2 more examples

   In New Zealand, this approach is taken one step forward in that Ministers physically sit together up in the beehive, as their building is known, rather than being based in the Departments.

   2010, David Halpern, The Hidden Wealth of Nations, →ISBN, page 216

   As with other major buildings the beehive demonstrated the need for a standardized building drawing practice which could be applied — and understood

   1977, New Zealand Libraries - Volumes 40-42, →ISBN, page 30

7. cellular automataIn Conway's Game of Life, a particular still life pattern with a rounded appearance.

   By the way, what happens to a beehive which is under attack by one or two gliders such as pictured:

   1989 December 22, Norbert Roestel, “CA-LETTER”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet)

   2 more examples

   Alternatively, in many cases the debris can be suppressed by perturbing the debris with a passing spaceship before it stabilizes into the beehive or loaf.

   1992 October 22, David Bell, “Spaceships in Conway's Life (Part 6a)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet)

   Unfortunately, a beehive (a common six cell still life) was also created close to the block, and its position made it impossible to eliminate with conventional methods using still lifes (anything placed to destroy it would be damaged by earlier activity).

   1996 November 16, Paul Callahan, “Still-life glider reflector found”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet)

8. ball gamesA diagram showing where balls have passed the batter, used in analysis.

present singular third person beehives · participle present beehiving · participle past beehived · past beehived · alternative bee-hive

1. raretransitiveTo fill (a place) with busy activity.

   The patrons beehiving the place whooped and shouted.

   1989, Craig Foley, Blood Knot, page 59

   2 more examples

   Quite naturally, if there are more ministers swarming the cabinet rooms and conference halls, then there will be a spate of civil servants beehiving the secretariat.

   1958, T. S. Bawa, Jawaharlal Nehru, Nehru's India: An Analytical Study, page 25

   This is not the first time that I learnt of a neighbor's death after a lapse of a few weeks. You just don't see people beehiving a home, like in India […]

   2012, Satish C. Bhatnagar, Epsilons and Deltas of Life: Everyday Stories, volume 1, page 16

2. raretransitiveTo style the hair in a hive-shaped or bouffant form.

plural Beehives

1. MormonismA participant aged either twelve or thirteen years old in the Young Women organization of the LDS Church.

alternative nonstandard beehive

1. New ZealandinformalThe executive wing of the New Zealand parliament buildings.
2. broadlyNew Zealand government.