Bee vs Fee - What's the difference?
bee | fee |
A flying insect, of the superfamily Apoidea, known for its organised societies and for collecting pollen and producing wax and honey.
*1499 , (John Skelton), The Bowge of Courte :
*:His face was belymmed as byes had him stounge.
*1590 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , III.12:
*, II.12:
*:Can there be a more formall, and better ordered policie, divided into so severall charges and offices, more constantly entertained, and better maintained, than that of Bees ?
*2012 , ‘Subtle poison’, The Economist , 31 March:
*:Bees pollinate many of the world’s crops—a service estimated to be worth $15 billion a year in America alone.
A contest, especially for spelling; see spelling bee.
A gathering for a specific purpose, e.g. a sewing bee or a quilting bee.
* S. G. Goodrich
* 2011 , Tim Blanning, "The reinvention of the night", Times Literary Supplement , 21 Sep 2011:
(obsolete) A ring or torque; a bracelet.
* 1485 , Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur , Book VII:
* 1658 , Sir Thomas Browne, Urne-Burial , Penguin 2005, page 16:
* 1604 Reverend Cawdrey Table Aleph
(obsolete) ; been
Any of the pieces of hard wood bolted to the sides of the bowsprit, to reeve the fore-topmast stays through.
(feudal law) A right to the use of a superior's land, as a stipend for services to be performed; also, the land so held; a fief.
(legal) An inheritable estate in land held of a feudal lord on condition of the performing of certain services.
(legal) An estate of inheritance in land, either absolute and without limitation to any particular class of heirs (fee simple) or limited to a particular class of heirs (fee tail).
(obsolete) Property; owndom; estate.
* Wordsworth, On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic
* 1844 , , by (James Russell Lowell)
* 1915 , :
(obsolete) Money paid or bestowed; payment; emolument.
(obsolete) A prize or reward. Only used in the set phrase "A finder's fee" in Modern English.
* 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , IV.10:
A monetary payment charged for professional services.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Peter Wilby)
, volume=189, issue=6, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= To reward for services performed, or to be performed; to recompense; to hire or keep in hire; hence, to bribe.
* (rfdate)
* (rfdate),
* Herman Melville, Omoo
As nouns the difference between bee and fee
is that bee is while fee is .bee
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) bee, from (etyl) ).Noun
(s)- An angry Wasp th'one in a viall had, / Th'other in hers an hony-laden Bee .
Derived terms
* bee-eater * beekeeper * beehive * beehouse * beeline * beeswax * bee's knees * bumblebee * honeybee * carpenter bee * have a bee in your bonnet * put the bee on * queen bee * stingless bee * sting like a bee * worker beeSynonyms
*See also
* apian * apiarian * apiarist * apiary * apimania * * * drone * dumbledore * hornet * honey * imbe * pollinator * waspEtymology 2
Possibly from dialectal (etyl) bene, been, .Noun
(en noun)- geography bee
- The cellar was dug by a bee in a single day.
- Particularly resistant, for example, in many parts of northern Europe was the “spinning bee ”, a nocturnal gathering of women to exchange gossip, stories, refreshment and – crucially – light and heat, as they spun wool or flax, knitted or sewed.
Etymology 3
(Northern development of) (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)- And Kynge Arthure gaff hir a ryche bye of golde; and so she departed.
- ...restoring unto the world much gold richly adorning his Sword, two hundred Rubies, many hundred Imperial Coynes, three hundred golden Bees , the bones and horseshoe of his horse enterred with him...
Etymology 4
Variant spellings.Verb
(head)- held that a ‘Nicholaitan is an heretike, like Nicholas, who held that wiues should bee common to all alike.’
- (Spenser)
Etymology 5
See also
*Etymology 6
Probably from an (etyl) word meaning "ring". See bow.Noun
(en noun)Synonyms
* bee blockfee
English
Noun
(en noun)- Once did she hold the gorgeous East in fee .
- What doth the poor man's son inherit? / Stout muscles and a sinewy heart, / A hardy frame, a hardier spirit; / King of two hands, he does his part / In every useful toil and art; / A heritage, it seems to me, / A king might wish to hold in fee .
- Cronshaw had told him that the facts of life mattered nothing to him who by the power of fancy held in fee the twin realms of space and time.
- For though sweet love to conquer glorious bee, / Yet is the paine thereof much greater than the fee .
Finland spreads word on schools, passage=Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.}}
Verb
- The patient . . . fees the doctor.
- There's not a one of them but in his house I keep a servant feed .
- We departed the grounds without seeing Marbonna; and previous to vaulting over the picket, feed our pretty guide, after a fashion of our own.
