bee
bee — noun
- beesingular
- beesplural
1. a small flying insect with yellow and black stripes on its body that gathers nec
a small flying insect with yellow and black stripes on its body that gathers nectar from flowers, produces honey, and can give a painful sting when it feels threatened.
Élise watched a fat bee crawl across the lavender flowers in her garden.
subject + watch + bee crawl across [flower]
Bees gather pollen from apple blossoms and carry it back to the hive.
bees gather pollen from [flower]
A bee stung Nkechi on the ankle while she was hanging up the washing.
The keeper opened the wooden hive and showed Christopher thousands of busy worker bees.
Without bees, many fruit and vegetable crops would not grow.
文法句型
a/the bee
swarm of bees
用法筆記
Often appears in fixed comparisons and idioms about activity or social organisation (busy as a bee, bee in your bonnet). Plural 'bees' is the default in general statements about the species.
常見錯誤
2. an organised gathering where people get together to do shared work, compete at a
an organised gathering where people get together to do shared work, compete at a skill, or enjoy a hobby — common in American community life, for example a spelling bee or a quilting bee.
Gabriel won the school spelling bee after correctly spelling 'rhododendron'.
spelling bee (the most common compound)
The neighbours held a quilting bee on Saturday to finish the baby blanket together.
hold a [activity] bee
Felix is practising long words every night for next month's regional spelling bee.
Elena organised a sewing bee so the village mothers could share patterns.
Each autumn the church holds a husking bee where farmers strip dried corn cobs.
文法句型
a [type] bee
hold a bee
用法筆記
Mostly American English, usually appears in compounds: spelling bee, quilting bee, sewing bee, husking bee. The activity word comes directly before 'bee'.