What is "bumblebee"

Bee \Bee\ (b[=e]), n. [AS. be['o]; akin to D. bij and bije, Icel. b[=y], Sw. & Dan. bi, OHG. pini, G. biene, and perh. Ir. beach, Lith. bitis, Skr. bha. [root]97.]

1. (Zo["o]l.) An insect of the order Hymenoptera, and family Apid[ae] (the honeybees), or family Andrenid[ae] (the solitary bees.) See Honeybee.

   Note: There are many genera and species. The common honeybee ( Apis mellifica) lives in swarms, each of which has its own queen, its males or drones, and its very numerous workers, which are barren females. Besides the Apis mellifica there are other species and varieties of honeybees, as the Apis ligustica of Spain and Italy; the Apis Indica of India; the Apis fasciata of Egypt. The bumblebee is a species of Bombus. The tropical honeybees belong mostly to Melipoma and Trigona.

2. A neighborly gathering of people who engage in united labor for the benefit of an individual or family; as, a quilting bee; a husking bee; a raising bee. [U. S.]

   The cellar . . . was dug by a bee in a single day.
   --S. G. Goodrich.

3. pl. [Prob. fr. AS. be['a]h ring, fr. b?gan to bend. See 1st Bow.] (Naut.) Pieces of hard wood bolted to the sides of the bowsprit, to reeve the fore-topmast stays through; -- called also bee blocks. Bee beetle (Zo["o]l.), a beetle ( Trichodes apiarius) parasitic in beehives. Bee bird (Zo["o]l.), a bird that eats the honeybee, as the European flycatcher, and the American kingbird. Bee flower (Bot.), an orchidaceous plant of the genus Ophrys ( Ophrys apifera), whose flowers have some resemblance to bees, flies, and other insects. Bee fly (Zo["o]l.), a two winged fly of the family Bombyliid[ae]. Some species, in the larval state, are parasitic upon bees. Bee garden, a garden or inclosure to set beehives in; an apiary. --Mortimer. Bee glue, a soft, unctuous matter, with which bees cement the combs to the hives, and close up the cells; -- called also propolis. Bee hawk (Zo["o]l.), the honey buzzard. Bee killer (Zo["o]l.), a large two-winged fly of the family Asilid[ae] (esp. Trupanea apivora) which feeds upon the honeybee. See Robber fly. Bee louse (Zo["o]l.), a minute, wingless, dipterous insect ( Braula c[ae]ca) parasitic on hive bees. Bee martin (Zo["o]l.), the kingbird ( Tyrannus Carolinensis) which occasionally feeds on bees. Bee moth (Zo["o]l.), a moth ( Galleria cereana) whose larv[ae] feed on honeycomb, occasioning great damage in beehives. Bee wolf (Zo["o]l.), the larva of the bee beetle. See Illust. of Bee beetle. To have a bee in the head or To have a bee in the bonnet.

   1. To be choleric. [Obs.]

   2. To be restless or uneasy.
      --B. Jonson.

   3. To be full of fancies; to be a little crazy. ``She's whiles crack-brained, and has a bee in her head.''
      --Sir W. Scott.

also bumble-bee, 1520s, replacing Middle English humbul-be (altered by association with Middle English bombeln "to boom, buzz," late 14c.); echoic, from PIE echoic root *kem "to hum."

alt. Any of several species of large bee in the genus ''Bombus''. n. Any of several species of large bee in the genus ''Bombus''.

n. robust hairy social bee of temperate regions [syn: humblebee]

Bumblebee (real name Karen Beecher-Duncan) is a fictional character, existing in DC Comics' main shared universe. She was a member of the Teen Titans and is a member of the Doom Patrol. First appearing in Teen Titans #45 (December 1976), Karen adopted the Bumblebee identity three issues later, becoming DC's first African American female superhero.

Bumblebee is a fictional character from the Transformers franchise. In most incarnations, Bumblebee is a small, yellow (sometimes with black stripes) Autobot with most of his alternative vehicle modes inspired by several generations of the Chevrolet Camaro/ Pontiac Firebird muscle cars (with the live-action film versions being real Camaros: the original vehicle mode was based on a Volkswagen Beetle). The characters and related events are described, below, using in-universe tone. He is named after a genus of bee which inspired his paint scheme.

A bumblebee is a flying insect of the genus Bombus.

Bumblebee or bumble bee may also refer to:

A bumblebee, also written bumble bee, is a member of the bee genus Bombus, in the family Apidae. The brood parasitic or cuckoo bumblebees have sometimes been classified as a subgenus or genus, Psithyrus, but are now usually treated as members of Bombus. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related genera (e.g., Calyptapis) are known from fossils. Over 250 species of bumblebee are known. They are found primarily in higher altitudes or latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, although they are also found in South America where a few lowland tropical species have been identified. European bumblebees have also been introduced to New Zealand and Tasmania.

Bumblebees are social insects which form colonies with a single queen. Colonies are smaller than those of honeybees, growing to as few as 50 individuals in a nest. Female bumblebees can sting repeatedly, but generally ignore humans and other animals. Cuckoo bumblebees do not make nests; their queens aggressively invade the nests of other bumblebee species, kill the resident queens and then lay their own eggs which are cared for by the resident workers.

Bumblebees have round bodies covered in soft hair (long, branched setae), called pile, making them appear and feel fuzzy. They have aposematic (warning) coloration, often consisting of contrasting bands of colour, and different species of bumblebee in a region often resemble each other in mutually protective Müllerian mimicry. Harmless insects such as hoverflies often derive protection from resembling bumblebees, in Batesian mimicry, and may be confused with them. Nest-making bumblebees can be distinguished from similarly large, fuzzy cuckoo bees by the form of the female hind leg. In nesting bumblebees, it is modified to form a pollen basket, a bare shiny area surrounded by a fringe of hairs used to transport pollen, whereas in cuckoo bees, the hind leg is hairy all round, and pollen grains are wedged among the hairs for transport.

Like their relatives the honeybees, bumblebees feed on nectar, using their long hairy tongues to lap up the liquid; the proboscis is folded under the head during flight. Bumblebees gather nectar to add to the stores in the nest, and pollen to feed their young. They forage using colour and spatial relationships to identify flowers to feed from. Some bumblebees rob nectar, making a hole near the base of a flower to access the nectar while avoiding pollen transfer. Bumblebees are important agricultural pollinators, so their decline in Europe, North America, and Asia is a cause for concern. The decline has been caused by habitat loss, the mechanisation of agriculture, and pesticides.