hive

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /haɪv/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪv

From Middle English hyve, from Old English hȳf, from Proto-West Germanic *hūfi (compare Dutch huif (“beehive”), Danish dialect huv (“ship’s hull”)), from Proto-Indo-European *kuHp- (“water vessel”) (compare Latin cūpa (“tub, vat”), Ancient Greek κύπη (kúpē, “gap, hole”), κύπελλον (kúpellon, “beaker”), Sanskrit कूप (kū́pa, “cave”)), from *kew- (“to bend, curve”). Doublet of coupe, cup, and keeve. The computing term was chosen as an in-joke relating to bees; see [1].

hive (plural hives)

1. A structure, whether artificial or natural, for housing a swarm of honeybees.
   • 1697, Virgil, “The Fourth Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, lines 10–13:

     First, for thy Bees a quiet Station find, / And lodge 'em under Covert of the Wind: / For Winds, when homeward they return, will drive / The loaded Carriers from their Ev'ning Hive.

2. The bees of one hive; a swarm of bees.
   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     When that the general is not like the hive, to whom the foragers shall all repair, what honey is expected?

3. A place swarming with busy occupants; a crowd.
   • 1864, Alfred Tennyson, “[Experiments.] Boädicea”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, stanza 3, page 170:

     There the horde of Roman robbers mock at a barbarous adversary. / There the hive of Roman liars worship a gluttonous emperor-idiot.

4. (computing, Microsoft Windows) A section of the registry.
   • 2006, Jean Andrews, Fixing Windows XP, page 352:

     Windows builds the registry from the five registry hives […]

   • 2011, Samuel Phung, Professional Microsoft Windows Embedded CE 6.0:

     For devices built with hive-based registry implementation, the registry data are broken into three different hives — the boot hive, system hive, and user hive.

• apiary
• hives

hive (third-person singular simple present hives, present participle hiving, simple past and past participle hived)

1. (transitive) To collect (bees) into a hive.

   to hive a swarm of bees

2. (transitive) To store (something other than bees) in, or as if in, a hive.
   • 1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: Printed for John Murray, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):

     Hiving wisdom with each studious year.

3. (intransitive) To form a hive-like entity.
4. (intransitive) To take lodging or shelter together; to reside in a collective body.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:

     The patch is kind enough, but a huge feeder, / Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day / More than the wild-cat; drones hive not with me; / Therefore I part with him; and part with him / To one what I would have him help to waste / His borrowed purse. […]

   • 1725, Alexander Pope, letter to Martha Blount

     […] to get into warmer houses, and hive together in cities

5. (entomology) Of insects: to enter or possess a hive.

• hive off

hive (plural hives)

1. An itchy, red, swollen area of the skin; singular or attributive form of hives.
   • 2003, Christopher H. Fanta, Lynda M. Cristiano, Kenan E. Haver, The Harvard Medical School Guide to Taking Control of Asthma: A Comprehensive Prevention and Treatment Plan for You and Your Family, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 55:

     […] if you are allergic to it, the skin produces a localized red, itchy reaction, a hive. The hive appears within minutes of the allergy skin test and lasts up to approximately 24 hours.

   • 2003, Dennis Krebs, Special Operations Mission Planning Field Guide, Jones & Bartlett Learning, →ISBN, page 74:

     Most people will develop a small, itchy hive at the site of the sting that will subside in 30 to 60 minutes (sting may be accompanied by burning pain). Each ant inflicts seven to eight stings. Within 4 hours, a small blister will develop at the site.

   • 2003 January 20, Editors of Parents Magazine, The Parents Answer Book: From Birth Through Age Three, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 567:

     Itchy, hive-like bumps turn into solid knotlike eruptions, which can last from a few days to several months.

   • (Can we date this quote?), Tamie Dearen, Promise of Hope: Christian Christmas Romance, Tamie Dearen:

     [She had an] itchy hive reaction on her chest—it always seemed to happen when she talked to her mother.

   • 2018 January 11, Jo Spain, The Confession: A totally addictive psychological thriller with shocking twists and turns, Quercus, →ISBN:

     [...] a bite or a hive, he wasn't sure which, but it was bloody itchy. It was probably a hive. He was very stressed.

   • 2021, Alexander Lobrano, My Place at the Table: A Recipe for a Delicious Life in Paris, Rux Martin/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 195:

     A hard, burning button erupted on my forehead, an itchy hive. I wanted to scratch it, but refrained. It seemed to be traveling slowly from one side of my face to the other. I was sweating profusely.

From English heave, from Middle English heven, hebben, from Old English hebban, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to take up, lift”). Doublet of hæve.

hive (present tense hiver, past tense hev, past participle hevet, present participle hivende, imperative hiv)

1. (transitive) to pull, heave, tow
2. (transitive) to throw

• hiva (an infinitive)

From English heave, from Middle English heven, hebben, from Old English hebban, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to take up, lift”). Doublet of hevja.

hive (present tense hiv, past tense heiv, past participle hive, present participle hivande, imperative hiv)

1. (transitive) to lift, heave, tow
2. (transitive) to throw

• “hive” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.