Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various large, hairy, often black and yellow bees of the genus Bombus that nest in underground colonies.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A large hairy social bee of the family Apidœ, subfamily Socialiœ, and genus Bombus, species of which are found in most parts of the world.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) A large bee of the genus Bombus, sometimes called humblebee; -- so named from its sound.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of several species of large bee in the genus Bombus.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun robust hairy social bee of temperate regions

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[bumble + bee.]

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Examples

  • The causes of the recent major declines in bumblebee populations are not certain, but some factors are known to be important.

    Biodiversity 100: actions for Europe Guillaume Chapron 2010

  • 'Cause I get to ride around on a giant bumblebee, which is fantastic.

    Michael Caine: A Life Large Enough For An Encore 2010

  • Aside from having people issues and a bit of a problem with alcohol no big deal, the bumblebee was a pretty chill dude.

    Helicopter Show Mike Lynch 2011

  • He was still living down the grief he got when, after painting our house bright yellow and black, we became known as the bumblebee family.

    Chicken Soup for the Soul: Family Matters Jack Canfield 2010

  • He was still living down the grief he got when, after painting our house bright yellow and black, we became known as the bumblebee family.

    Chicken Soup for the Soul: Family Matters Jack Canfield 2010

  • He was still living down the grief he got when, after painting our house bright yellow and black, we became known as the bumblebee family.

    Chicken Soup for the Soul: Family Matters Jack Canfield 2010

  • He was still living down the grief he got when, after painting our house bright yellow and black, we became known as the bumblebee family.

    Chicken Soup for the Soul: Family Matters Jack Canfield 2010

  • When I was a child, I heard a preacher say that the bumblebee is a miracle because scientists didn't know how such thin legs could support such a weight, so this was proof that God made the bumblebee!

    Intelligent Design Criminology James F. McGrath 2008

  • The Latin name for the bumblebee is the delicious sounding Bombus

    WalesOnline - Home 2011

  • The plight of the bumblebee is a matter of great concern.

    TreeHugger 2010

Comments

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  • I'm concerned that I fit WeirdNet's definition.

    October 27, 2008

  • Why is this tagged bird?

    October 27, 2008

  • It's on a bird-description list, and possibly was bulk-tagged.

    October 27, 2008

  • C_b's right. It's the adjective part of a bird name and is on my bird adjectives list for Bumblebee Hummingbird. However, it does make me rethink tagging all the words on that list as such....

    Bilby, you're a hairy-bodied insect? I had no idea.

    October 28, 2008

  • Well, you could just remove this one tag, if you wanted. :) Though I've seen enough really large bumblebees that I believe in some locales they do resemble birds...

    October 28, 2008

  • That's true! This one, though, is a specific hummingbird name.

    Still considering retagging that list--many of the words by themselves don't suggest birdy-ness. But I'll think about it. :-)

    October 29, 2008

  • Removing bulk tags is still manual, I think.

    October 29, 2008

  • Hence my hesitation. :-)

    October 29, 2008

  • "Bum Bill Bee". One of the characters in Geo. Herriman's Krazy Kat cartoon strip.

    October 29, 2008

  • Diction, please!

    October 30, 2008