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bee's knees - 2 dictionary results
bee
1
[bee] 
–noun
—Idioms| 1. | any hymenopterous insect of the superfamily Apoidea, including social and solitary species of several families, as the bumblebees, honeybees, etc. |
| 2. | the common honeybee, Apis mellifera. |
| 3. | a community social gathering in order to perform some task, engage in a contest, etc.: a sewing bee; a spelling bee; a husking bee. |
| 4. | have a bee in one's bonnet,
|
| 5. | put the bee on, Informal. to try to obtain money from, as for a loan or donation: My brother just put the bee on me for another $10. |
| 6. | the bee's knees, Older Slang. (esp. in the 1920s) a person or thing that is wonderful, great, or marvelous: Her new roadster is simply the bee's knees. |
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME be(e); OE bīo, bēo; c. D bij, OS bī, bini, OHG bīa, bini (G Biene), ON bȳ; with other suffixes, Lith bìtė, OPruss bitte, OCS bĭchela, OIr bech; *bhi- is a North European stem with the same distribution as wax 1 , apple; put the bee on prob. an allusion to sting in sense “dupe, cheat”
bef. 1000; ME be(e); OE bīo, bēo; c. D bij, OS bī, bini, OHG bīa, bini (G Biene), ON bȳ; with other suffixes, Lith bìtė, OPruss bitte, OCS bĭchela, OIr bech; *bhi- is a North European stem with the same distribution as wax 1 , apple; put the bee on prob. an allusion to sting in sense “dupe, cheat”
Related forms:
beelike, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
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Link To bee's knees
bee''s knees
1923, a survivor of a fad around this year for slang terms denoting "excellence" and based on animal anatomy. Also existed in the more ribald version bee's nuts. Other versions that lasted through the century are cat's whiskers (1923), cat's pajamas, cat's meow. More obscure examples are canary's tusks, cat's nuts and flea's eyebrows. The linguistic custom was still alive in Britain at the end of the century, as attested by the appearance of dog's bollocks in 1989. Bee's knee was used from 1797 for "something insignificant."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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