Alveary

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A facility created by bees for the purpose of living and hoarding honey A designated area where bees build their homes and keep their collected nectar safe An organized structure that provides shelter for bee colonies while also serving as a repository for honey
2. A constructed space where honeybees reside and store their honey supply
3. An enclosure or natural cavity that serves as a home for bees and a place for honey storage

Etymology: The most surprising fact about "alveary" is that the same word once named a part of the human ear. Its Latin ancestor, "alvearium", meant "beehive", and English borrowed it with that sense intact. Its other meanings grew out of a resemblance: the hollow of the ear was called the alveary because wax collects there, much as wax fills a hive. Later the word moved from the ear and the hive to the world of books. It was used for a dictionary covering several languages, a sense that rests on a comparison of the many scholars who contributed to such a work with "busy bees" working together to fill a single store. Each step kept the image of a container gathering something valuable, whether honey, wax, or words.

Synonyms: hive