ENGLISH
REFERENCE

hive

n. · v.
US //ˈhaɪv// UK //hˈaɪv// hive
  1. 1 bee home (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    a container or natural place where bees live and make honey.

    a natural or man-made structure used as a habitation for a colony of honeybees.

    Example

    The beekeeper carefully opened the hive to check on the health of the queen.

    Example

    Wild honeybees often establish a hive within the hollow of an old oak tree, protected from the wind and rain.
    • beehive
  2. 2 busy place (n.)
    C1 Advanced Literary

    a place full of people who are very busy and moving around quickly.

    a place or situation teeming with busy occupants or intense activity.

    Example

    The office was a hive of activity as the team prepared for the big launch.

    Example

    By mid-morning, the stock exchange floor had become a hive of frantic energy, with traders shouting orders over the constant din of telephones.
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  1. 3 skin rash (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate Medicine

    a red, itchy bump on your skin, often caused by an allergy.

    a single lesion of urticaria; an itchy, swollen area of the skin typically resulting from an allergic reaction.

    Example

    He noticed a small hive on his arm after walking through the tall grass.

    Example

    The patient presented with a solitary hive on the forearm, which quickly spread into a systemic case of urticaria after further exposure to the allergen.

    Usage

    Usually used in the plural form 'hives' to describe the condition.
  2. 4 computing/registry (n.)
    C2 Proficiency Technical Computing

    a specific part of the computer's registry where settings are stored.

    a discrete logical group of keys, subkeys, and values in the Windows Registry that has a corresponding set of supporting files.

    Example

    The system administrator had to repair a corrupted registry hive to fix the boot error.

    Example

    Each hive is associated with a specific file on the hard drive, allowing the operating system to load user-specific configurations during the login process.

  3. 5 to store or gather (v.)
    C2 Proficiency Literary

    to put bees into a hive or to store something away for later.

    to collect bees into a hive or, metaphorically, to store or accumulate resources in a central place.

    Example

    The farmers would hive the grain in large barns to prepare for the winter.

    Example

    The corporation managed to hive away its profits in various offshore accounts to minimize its annual tax burden.
Origin

From Middle English hyve, from Old English hȳf, from Proto-West Germanic hūfi, from Proto-Indo-European kuHp- (“water vessel”), from *kew- (“to bend, curve”). See also Dutch huif (“beehive”), Danish dialect huv (“ship’s hull”); also Latin cūpa (“tub, vat”), Ancient Greek κύπη (kúpē, “gap, hole”), κύπελλον (kúpellon, “beaker”), Sanskrit कूप (kū́pa, “cave”). Doublet of coupe, cup, and keeve. The computing term was chosen as an in-joke relating to bees; see https://web.archive.org/web/20150715222122/http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2003/08/08/54618.aspx.

Idioms1 entry

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