hive off

noun

1. a shelter constructed for housing a colony of honeybees; beehive.
2. the colony of bees inhabiting a hive.
3. something resembling a beehive in structure or use.
4. a place swarming with busy occupants: a hive of industry.
5. a swarming or teeming multitude.

verb (used with object), hived, hiv·ing.

6. to gather into or cause to enter a hive.
7. to shelter as in a hive.
8. to store up in a hive.
9. to store or lay away for future use or enjoyment.

verb (used without object), hived, hiv·ing.

10. (of bees) to enter a hive.
11. to live together in or as in a hive.

Verb Phrases

12. hive off, British. to become transferred from the main body of a commercial or industrial enterprise through the agency of new ownership.

verb (adverb)

1. to transfer or be transferred from a larger group or unit
2. (usually tr) to transfer (profitable activities of a nationalized industry) back to private ownership

noun

1. a structure in which social bees live and rear their young
2. a colony of social bees
3. a place showing signs of great industry (esp in the phrase a hive of activity)
4. a teeming crowd; multitude
5. an object in the form of a hive

verb

6. to cause (bees) to collect or (of bees) to collect inside a hive
7. to live or cause to live in or as if in a hive
8. (tr) (of bees) to store (honey, pollen, etc) in the hive
9. (tr; often foll by up or away) to store, esp for future usehe used to hive away a small sum every week

n.

Old English hyf “beehive,” from Proto-Germanic *hufiz (cf. Old Norse hufr “hull of a ship”), from PIE *keup- “round container, bowl” (cf. Sanskrit kupah “hollow, pit, cave,” Greek kypellon “cup,” Latin cupa “tub, cask, vat”). Figurative sense of “swarming, busy place” is from 1630s. As a verb, of bees, etc., “to form themselves into a hive,” c.1400; “to put bees in a hive,” mid-15c.