hive bee

plural hive bees

1. The common honey bee.

   This unavian behaviour, which recalls that of the hive-bee in winter, is evidently an adaptation to conserve heat.

   1951, The Ibis, volume 93, page 505

   1 more example

   Palpi exteriores are organs noticed in the rude sketch of the proboscis of the hive bee by Swammerdam, who does not, however, speak of them.

   1819, Abraham Rees, The Cyclopaedia