Category:Honey

Hon"ey, n. Etym: [OE. honi, huni, AS. hunig; akin to OS. honeg, D. & G. honig, OHG. honag, honang, Icel. hunang, Sw. håning, Dan. honning, cf. Gr. kaa grain.]

1. A sweet viscid fluid, esp. that collected by bees from flowers of plants, and deposited in the cells of the honeycomb.

2. That which is sweet or pleasant, like honey. The honey of his language. Shak.

3. Sweet one; -- a term of endearment. Chaucer. Honey, you shall be well desired in Cyprus. Shak.

Note: 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. Honey ant (Zoöl.), 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 (Zoöl.), the ratel. -- Honey bear. (Zoöl.) See Kinkajou. -- Honey buzzard (Zoöl.), a bird related to the kites, of the genus Pernis. The European species is P. apivorus; the Indian or crested honey buzzard is P. ptilorhyncha. They feed upon honey and the larvæ of bees. Called also bee hawk, bee kite. -- Honey creeper (Zoöl.), one of numerous species of small, bright, colored, passerine birds of the family Coerebidæ, abundant in Central and South America. -- Honey easter (Zoöl.), one of numerous species of small passerine birds of the family Meliphagidæ, abundant in Australia and Oceania; -- called also honeysucker. -- Honey flower (Bot.), an evergreen shrub of the genus Melianthus, a native of the Cape of Good Hope. The flowers yield much honey. -- Honey guide (Zoöl.), 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. (Zoöl.) 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 (Zoöl.), the ratel.

honey Hon"ey, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Honeyed; p. pr. & vb. n. Honeying.]

Defn: To be gentle, agreeable, or coaxing; to talk fondly; to use endearments; also, to be or become obsequiously courteous or complimentary; to fawn. "Honeying and making love." Shak. Rough to common men, But honey at the whisper of a lord. Tennyson.

honey Hon"ey, v. t.

Defn: To make agreeable; to cover or sweeten with, or as with, honey. Canst thou not honey me with fluent speech Marston.

- ---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Honey - (1.) Heb. ya'ar, occurs only 1 Samuel 14:25, 1 Samuel 14:27, 1 Samuel 14:29; Song of Songs 5:1, where it denotes the honey of bees. Properly the word signifies a forest or copse, and refers to honey found in woods. (2.) Nopheth, honey that drops (Psalms 19:10; Proverbs 5:3; Song of Songs 4:11). (3.) Debash denotes bee-honey (Judges 14:8); but also frequently a vegetable honey distilled from trees (Genesis 43:11; Ezekiel 27:17). In these passages it may probably mean "dibs," or syrup of grapes, i.e., the juice of ripe grapes boiled down to one-third of its bulk. (4.) Tsuph, the cells of the honey-comb full of honey (Proverbs 16:24; Psalms 19:10). (5.) "Wild honey" (Matthew 3:4) may have been the vegetable honey distilled from trees, but rather was honey stored by bees in rocks or in trees (Deuteronomy 32:13; Psalms 81:16; 1 Samuel 14:25). Canaan was a "land flowing with milk and honey" (Exodus 3:8). Milk and honey were among the chief dainties in the earlier ages, as they are now among the Bedawin; and butter and honey are also mentioned among articles of food (Isaiah 7:15). The ancients used honey instead of sugar (Psalms 119:103; Proverbs 24:13); but when taken in great quantities it caused nausea, a fact referred to in Proverbs 25:16, Proverbs 25:17 to inculcate moderation in pleasures. Honey and milk also are put for sweet discourse (Song of Songs 4:11).