honey

n. [ OE. honi, huni, AS. hunig; akin to OS. honeg, D. & G. honig, OHG. honag, honang, Icel. hunang, Sw. håning, Dan. honning, cf. Gr. ko`nis dust, Skr. ka&nsdot_;a grain. ] 1. A sweet viscid fluid, esp. that collected by bees from flowers of plants, and deposited in the cells of the honeycomb. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is sweet or pleasant, like honey. [ 1913 Webster ]

The honey of his language. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Sweet one; -- a term of endearment. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Honey, you shall be well desired in Cyprus. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Honey is often used adjectively or as the first part of compound; as, honeydew or honey dew; honey guide or honeyguide; honey locust or honey-locust. [ 1913 Webster ]

Honey ant (Zool.), a small ant (Myrmecocystus melliger), found in the Southwestern United States, and in Mexico, living in subterranean formicares. There are larger and smaller ordinary workers, and others, which serve as receptacles or cells for the storage of honey, their abdomens becoming distended to the size of a currant. These, in times of scarcity, regurgitate the honey and feed the rest. --
Honey badger (Zool.), the ratel. --
Honey bear. (Zool.) See Kinkajou. --
Honey buzzard (Zool.), a bird related to the kites, of the genus Pernis. The European species is Pernis apivorus; the Indian or crested honey buzzard is Pernis ptilorhyncha. They feed upon honey and the larvæ of bees. Called also bee hawk, bee kite. --
Honey guide (Zool.), one of several species of small birds of the family Indicatoridæ, inhabiting Africa and the East Indies. They have the habit of leading persons to the nests to wild bees. Called also honeybird, and indicator. --
Honey harvest, the gathering of honey from hives, or the honey which is gathered. Dryden. --
Honey kite. (Zool.) See Honey buzzard (above). --
Honey locust (Bot.), a North American tree (Gleditschia triacanthos), armed with thorns, and having long pods with a sweet pulp between the seeds. --
Honey month. Same as Honeymoon. --
Honey weasel (Zool.), the ratel. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To make agreeable; to cover or sweeten with, or as with, honey. [ 1913 Webster ]

Canst thou not honey me with fluent speech? Marston. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The receptacle for honey in a honeybee. Shak. Grew. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) Any bee of the genus Apis, which lives in communities and collects honey, esp. the common domesticated hive bee (Apis mellifica), the Italian bee (Apis ligustica), and the Arabiab bee (Apis fasciata). The two latter are by many entomologists considered only varieties of the common hive bee. Each swarm of bees consists of a large number of workers (barren females), with, ordinarily, one queen or fertile female, but in the swarming season several young queens, and a number of males or drones, are produced. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. -berries. The fruit of either of two trees having sweetish berries: (a) An Old World hackberry (Celtis australis). (b) In the West Indies, the genip (Melicocca bijuga). [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. (Zool.) The honey guide. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. hunigcamb. See Honey, and 1st Comb. ] 1. A mass of hexagonal waxen cells, formed by bees, and used by them to hold their honey and their eggs. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any substance, as a easting of iron, a piece of worm-eaten wood, or of triple, etc., perforated with cells like a honeycomb. [ 1913 Webster ]

Honeycomb moth (Zool.), the wax moth. --
Honeycomb stomach. (Anat.) See Reticulum. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Formed or perforated like a honeycomb. [ 1913 Webster ]

Each bastion was honeycombed with casements. Motley. [ 1913 Webster ]