apiary

noun

api·​ary ˈā-pē-ˌer-ē 

-ˌe-rē

plural apiaries

: a place where bees are kept

especially : a collection of hives or colonies of bees kept for their honey

Did you know?

Beekeeping, or apiculture, is the care of honeybees that ensures that they produce more honey than they can use. An apiary usually consists of many separate beehives. The social life of a hive is strange and marvelous. The queen bee, who will become the mother of an entire colony, is actually created by being fed "royal jelly" while she is still only a larva. The tens of thousands of worker bees are underdeveloped females; only a handful of the bees are male, and they do no work at all. The workers defend the hive by kamikaze means, stinging any intruder and dying as they do so. There's more drama in a quiet-looking apiary than the casual observer might notice.

Examples of apiary in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

There are orchards, greenhouses, kitchen gardens, fields planted with row crops, apiaries that produce more than 2,000 pounds of honey annually, and cut-flower gardens for good measure. —Elizabeth Hutchison Hicklin, Southern Living, 24 Oct. 2024

From humble beginnings in Southeast Georgia’s apiaries to consulting on complex nuclear issues during the Cold War, Dr. Gray attributes his success to his faith and the lessons learned early in life. —William Mullane, USA TODAY, 6 Sep. 2024

The honey is from the property's on-site apiary, established in 2011. —Kaila Yu, Forbes, 4 Sep. 2024

The 24-acre tract of land is known for its tranquility, thanks to ample woodlands, trails, an apiary, and a community garden. —Evie Carrick, Travel + Leisure, 7 Aug. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Latin apiārium, from apis "bee" (of obscure origin) + -ārium -ary entry 1

Note: Latin apis is superficially similar to the etymon *bi- seen in English bee and with varying suffixation in other northern Indo-European words (see bee entry 1), but cannot be connected in any phonetically regular way. A loan from ancient Egyptian ̓ fj "bee" has been hypothesized.

First Known Use

1654, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

apiary

noun

api·​ary ˈā-pē-ˌer-ē 

plural apiaries

: a place where bees are kept

especially : a collection of hives of bees kept for their honey

apiarist

ˈā-pē-ə-rəst

noun