bumblebee

[buhm-buh l-bee] /ˈbʌm bəlˌbi/
noun
1.
any of several large, hairy social bees of the family Apidae.
Also, bumble bee.
Origin
1520-30; bumble2 + bee1
Examples from the web for bumblebee
  • The presenter, in a bright red sweatshirt, is demonstrating how to construct a cardboard cut-out bumblebee.
  • But big as a bumblebee skimming flowers in the garden.
  • Her owners expect that she will be able to forage for food, as she recently captured and ate a bumblebee for a snack.
  • When they let the bumblebee foragers loose on the array, the insects showed a preference for visiting the blue flowers.
  • Some notable bumblebee species are rarely seen anymore, with others becoming increasingly scarce.
  • Losses were reported among four species of native bumblebee as well.
  • The traveling bumblebee needs to visit a number of flowers everyday, while expending as little energy as possible.
  • But then a bumblebee bumbled above us and it stole our attention the way flying things can.
  • In theory, a car can no more drift around a corner than a bumblebee can fly.
British Dictionary definitions for bumblebee

bumblebee

/ˈbʌmbəlˌbiː/
noun
1.
any large hairy social bee of the genus Bombus and related genera, of temperate regions: family Apidae
Word Origin
C16: from bumble² + bee1
Word Origin and History for bumblebee
n.

also bumble-bee, 1520s, replacing Middle English humbul-be (altered by association with Middle English bombeln "to boom, buzz," late 14c.); echoic, from PIE echoic root *kem "to hum."

Slang definitions & phrases for bumblebee

bumblebee

Related Terms

knee-high to a grasshopper