Meaning

noun a teeming multitude

noun a man-made receptacle that houses a swarm of bees

noun a structure that provides a natural habitation for bees; as in a hollow tree

originFrom Middle English hyve, from Old English hȳf, from Proto-West Germanic *hūfi, from Proto-Indo-European *kuHp- (“water vessel”), from *kew- (“to bend, curve”). See also Dutch huif (“beehive”), Danish dialect huv (“ship’s hull”); also Latin cūpa (“tub, vat”), Ancient Greek κύπη (kúpē, “gap, hole”), κύπελλον (kúpellon, “beaker”), Sanskrit कूप (kū́pa, “cave”). Doublet of coupe, cup, and keeve. The…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0