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Bee vs Heap - What's the difference?

bee | heap |

As nouns the difference between bee and heap

is that bee is a flying insect, of the superfamily Apoidea, known for its organised societies and for collecting pollen and producing wax and honey while heap is a crowd; a throng; a multitude or great number of people.

As verbs the difference between bee and heap

is that bee is obsolete spelling of lang=en while heap is to pile in a heap.

bee

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) bee, from (etyl) ).

Noun

(s)
  • 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:
    • An angry Wasp th'one in a viall had, / Th'other in hers an hony-laden Bee .
  • *, 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.
    • 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 bee
    Synonyms
    *
    See also
    * apian * apiarian * apiarist * apiary * apimania * * * drone * dumbledore * hornet * honey * imbe * pollinator * wasp

    Etymology 2

    Possibly from dialectal (etyl) bene, been, .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A contest, especially for spelling; see spelling bee.
    • geography bee
  • A gathering for a specific purpose, e.g. a sewing bee or a quilting bee.
  • * S. G. Goodrich
    • The cellar was dug by a bee in a single day.
  • * 2011 , Tim Blanning, "The reinvention of the night", Times Literary Supplement , 21 Sep 2011:
    • 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)
  • (obsolete) A ring or torque; a bracelet.
  • * 1485 , Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur , Book VII:
    • And Kynge Arthure gaff hir a ryche bye of golde; and so she departed.
  • * 1658 , Sir Thomas Browne, Urne-Burial , Penguin 2005, page 16:
    • ...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)
  • * 1604 Reverend Cawdrey Table Aleph
    • held that a ‘Nicholaitan is an heretike, like Nicholas, who held that wiues should bee common to all alike.’
  • (obsolete) ; been
    • (Spenser)

    Etymology 5

    Noun

    (en noun)
    • See also
    *

    Etymology 6

    Probably from an (etyl) word meaning "ring". See bow.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Any of the pieces of hard wood bolted to the sides of the bowsprit, to reeve the fore-topmast stays through.
    • Synonyms
    * bee block

    References

    English terms with multiple etymologies ----

    heap

    English

    (wikipedia heap)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A crowd; a throng; a multitude or great number of people.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • a heap of vassals and slaves
  • * W. Black
    • He had heaps of friends.
  • A pile or mass; a collection of things laid in a body, or thrown together so as to form an elevation.
    • a heap of earth or stones
  • * Dryden
    • Huge heaps of slain around the body rise.
  • A great number or large quantity of things.
  • * Bishop Burnet
    • a vast heap , both of places of scripture and quotations
  • * Robert Louis Stevenson
    • I have noticed a heap of things in my life.
  • (computing) A data structure consisting of trees in which each node is greater than all its children.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=May 9 , author=Jonathan Wilson , title=Europa League: Radamel Falcao's Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage=Every break seemed dangerous and Falcao clearly had the beating of Amorebieta. Others, being forced to stretch a foot behind them to control Arda Turan's 34th-minute cross, might simply have lashed a shot on the turn; Falcao, though, twisted back on to his left foot, leaving Amorebieta in a heap , and thumped in an inevitable finish – his 12th goal in 15 European matches this season.}}

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Verb

    (heap)
  • To pile in a heap.
    • He heaped the laundry upon the bed and began folding.
  • To form or round into a heap, as in measuring.
  • * 1819 , , Otho the Great , Act I, scene II, verses 40-42
    • Cry a reward, to him who shall first bring
    News of that vanished Arabian,
    A full-heap’d helmet of the purest gold.
  • To supply in great quantity.
    • They heaped praise upon their newest hero.

    Derived terms

    * heap up

    Anagrams

    * * * ----