Definitions

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

  • noun A group of birds, especially quail.
  • noun A group or assemblage.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A flock of birds, especially of larks or quails.
  • noun A small company or troop, as of roebucks, heifers, etc.
  • noun A group or small company of persons, especially of girls or women, but also used of the male sex: as, “a bevy of powdered coxcombs,” Goldsmith; “a bevy of renegades,” Macaulay, Hist. Eng.
  • noun A small collection of objects; an assemblage of things.
  • noun Synonyms Covey, etc. See flock.

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

  • noun A company; an assembly or collection of persons, especially of ladies.
  • noun A flock of birds, especially quails or larks; also, a herd of roes.

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

  • noun A group of animals, in particular quail.
  • noun A large group or collection.

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

  • noun a flock of birds (especially when gathered close together on the ground)
  • noun a large gathering of people of a particular type

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, from Anglo-Norman bevee.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English bevey, of uncertain origin.

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Examples

  • In one room sat the computers -- that is, a bevy of mathematically gifted women toiling away on regression analysis with sharp pencils.

    Michael Byers's “Percival's Planet,” reviewed by Ron Charles 2010

  • Instead I tried to occupy my mind with recollections of my earthly friends; I visualized my childhood days in India as I studied under old Chand Kabi, I thought of dear old Jimmy Welsh, and I recalled a bevy of girls I had liked and with some of whom I had almost been serious.

    Pirates of Venus Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 1875-1950 1962

  • Science historian Howard Markel discusses how the term later came to refer to a bevy of genetic manipulations.

    NPR Topics: News 2011

  • WASHINGTON - Barack Obama moved emphatically Wednesday to erase the legacy of the past eight years by calling a bevy of Mideast leaders, circulating a not-yet-released executive order to close the Guantanamo prison and deliberately diminishing the powers of his own presidency.

    Top Stories - Google News 2009

  • He then goes on to detail the "bevy" of bills that environmental leaders are fighting this session-and where Montana Dems have stood on them.

    NewWest.Net All Headlines 2009

  • Soviet Assault expansion pack is now available for World in Conflict, featuring 6 new single missions, a "bevy" of new weapons and more.

    News Tom's Hardware US 2009

  • It did not appear that Sharon Brown had such a "bevy" as the moneyed Osteen's could afford.

    Pulpit Pimps 2008

  • He also kept a bevy of alphabetized 78-rpm records, none of which were released post-1930.

    The Perfect Home for Old 78s Maya Pope-Chappell 2011

  • Mimi Ritzen Crawford for The Wall Street Journal Mr. Landroth kept a bevy of alphabetized 78-rpm records, none of which was released post-1930.

    Brownstone with Old-School Flair 2011

  • Why, she had a bevy of suitors, but she knew about them too, ya know?

    Darkness Becomes Her Kelly Keaton 2011

Comments

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  • The collective noun for beauties.

    August 5, 2007

  • To the right was a bevy of noble ladies, alighting from their carriages to take possession of their private boxes; to the left a tribe of female traders in lubricity, who came to sell their wares in the lobby.

    - Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 10 ch. 5

    October 9, 2008

  • almost an amber word, but foiled by yarb's example!

    July 19, 2009

  • See bevies. Ghastly!

    December 10, 2016