bee·hive / ˈbēˌhīv/ • n. 1. a structure in which bees are kept, typically in the form of a dome or box. ∎  [usu. as adj.] something having the domed shape of a traditional wicker beehive: beehive huts beehive ovens. ∎  a busy, crowded place: the church became a beehive of activity.2. a woman's domed and lacquered hairstyle, esp. popular in the 1960s.DERIVATIVES: bee·hived adj. (in sense 2).

beehive. Structure built of coursed rubble on a circular plan, each successive course slightly corbelled over the course below and slightly less in diameter so that, as each course is completed, a roughly conical or beehive-shaped thole or tholos is formed, actually covered with a corbelled or fake dome. The finest example from Antiquity is the Mycenaean ‘Treasury of Atreus’ (C13 BC). Inhabited beehive-houses in Southern Italy are called trulli, the prehistoric Sardinian versions of which are called nuraghi.

Bibliography

Annual of the British School at Athens, lxxvii (1982), 65–77;
Antiquity, xxxiv (1960), 166–76;
Lawrence (1996)

beehive a beehive is an emblem of St Ambrose, from the story that a swarm of bees, symbolizing his future eloquence, settled on him as a child.
Beehive State an informal name for Utah.