Bedtick to Before
Bedtick
(Bed"tick`) n. A tick or bag made of cloth, used for inclosing the materials of a bed.
Bedtime
(Bed"time`) n. The time to go to bed. Shak.
Beduck
(Be*duck") v. t. [imp. & p. p. Beducked ] To duck; to put the head under water; to immerse.
"Deep himself beducked." Spenser.
Beduin
(Bed"uin) n. See Bedouin.
Bedung
(Be*dung") v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bedunged ] To cover with dung, as for manuring; to bedaub or
defile, literally or figuratively. Bp. Hall.
Bedust
(Be*dust") v. t. To sprinkle, soil, or cover with dust. Sherwood.
Bedward
(Bed"ward) adv. Towards bed.
Bedwarf
(Be*dwarf") v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bedwarfed ] To make a dwarf of; to stunt or hinder the growth
of; to dwarf. Donne.
Bedye
(Be*dye") v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bedyed ; p. pr. & vb. n. Bedyeing.] To dye or stain.
Briton fields with Sarazin blood bedyed.
Spenser.
Bee
(Bee) p. p. of Be; — used for been. [Obs.] Spenser.
Bee
(Bee) n. [AS. beó; akin to D. bij and bije, Icel. b, Sw. & Dan. bi, OHG. pini, G. biene, and
perh. Ir. beach, Lith. bitis, Skr. bha. &radic97.]
1. (Zoöl.) An insect of the order Hymenoptera, and family Apidæ or family Andrenidæ (the solitary bees.)
See Honeybee.
There are many genera and species. The common honeybee (Apis mellifica) lives in swarms, each of
which has its own queen, its males or drones, and its very numerous workers, which are barren females.
Besides the A. mellifica there are other species and varieties of honeybees, as the A. ligustica of Spain
and Italy; the A. Indica of India; the A. fasciata of Egypt. The bumblebee is a species of Bombus. The
tropical honeybees belong mostly to Melipoma and Trigona.
2. A neighborly gathering of people who engage in united labor for the benefit of an individual or family; as,
a quilting bee; a husking bee; a raising bee. [U. S.]
The cellar . . . was dug by a bee in a single day.
S. G. Goodrich.
3. pl. [Prob. fr. AS. beáh ring, fr. bgan to bend. See 1st Bow.] (Naut.) Pieces of hard wood bolted
to the sides of the bowsprit, to reeve the fore-topmast stays through; — called also bee blocks.
Bee beetle (Zoöl.), a beetle (Trichodes apiarius) parasitic in beehives. — Bee bird (Zoöl.), a bird that
eats the honeybee, as the European flycatcher, and the American kingbird. — Bee flower (Bot.), an
orchidaceous plant of the genus Ophrys whose flowers have some resemblance to bees, flies, and
other insects. — Bee fly (Zoöl.), a two winged fly of the family Bombyliidæ. Some species, in the larval
state, are parasitic upon bees. — Bee garden, a garden or inclosure to set beehives in ; an apiary.
Mortimer. — Bee glue, a soft, unctuous matter, with which bees cement the combs to the hives, and
close up the cells; — called also propolis. — Bee hawk (Zoöl.), the honey buzzard. — Bee killer
(Zoöl.), a large two-winged fly of the family Asilidæ (esp. Trupanea apivora) which feeds upon the honeybee.
See Robber fly. — Bee louse (Zoöl.), a minute, wingless, dipterous insect (Braula cæca) parasitic on
hive bees. — Bee martin (Zoöl.), the kingbird (Tyrannus Carolinensis) which occasionally feeds on
bees. — Bee moth (Zoöl.), a moth (Galleria cereana) whose larvæ feed on honeycomb, occasioning
