humblebee
See also: humble-bee
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From humble + bee, where humble is from Old French (h)umble, from Latin humilis (“low, slight, hence mean, humble”) (compare Ancient Greek χαμαλός (khamalós, “on the ground, low, trifling”)), from humus (“the earth, ground”), humī (“on the ground”), thus a "humblebee" is a "ground bee" or a "bee of the earth," based on many species nesting in underground burrows.
Noun
humblebee (plural humblebees)
- (obsolete) A bumblebee.
- 1595 or 1596, William Shakespeare, Love's Labor's Lost
- The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee,
- Were still at odds, being but three.
- 1800's, Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Humblebee
- Burly, dozing humblebee,
- Where thou art is clime for me.
- 1859, Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species
- Hence I have very little doubt, that if the whole genus of humble-bees became extinct or very rare in England, the heartsease and red clover would become very rare, or wholly disappear.
- 1595 or 1596, William Shakespeare, Love's Labor's Lost
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