honeycomb

[ huhn-ee-kohm ]

noun

1. a structure of rows of hexagonal wax cells, formed by bees in their hive for the storage of honey, pollen, and their eggs.
2. a piece of this containing honey and chewed as a sweet.
3. anything whose appearance suggests such a structure, especially in containing many small units or holes:

   The building was a honeycomb of offices and showrooms.

4. the reticulum of a ruminant.
5. Textiles.
   1. Also called waf·fle cloth [wof, -, uh, l klawth, kloth]. a fabric with an embossed surface woven in a pattern resembling a honeycomb.
   2. the characteristic weave of such a fabric.

adjective

1. having the structure or appearance of a honeycomb.

verb (used with object)

1. to cause to be full of holes; pierce with many holes or cavities:

   an old log honeycombed with ant burrows.

2. to penetrate in all parts:

   a city honeycombed with vice.

honeycomb

/ ˈhʌnɪˌkəʊm /

noun

1. a waxy structure, constructed by bees in a hive, that consists of adjacent hexagonal cells in which honey is stored, eggs are laid, and larvae develop
2. something resembling this in structure or appearance
3. zoology another name for reticulum

verb

1. to pierce or fill with holes, cavities, etc
2. to permeate

   honeycombed with spies

Word History and Origins

Origin of honeycomb¹

before 1050; Middle English huny-comb, Old English hunigcamb. See honey, comb

Example Sentences

Gudis describes the sinuses as “compartments of little air-filled cavities, like a honeycomb,” or “an office with lots of cubicles in which each space is an air-filled compartment lined by a mucus membrane, surrounded by bony partitions.”

From Los Angeles Times

The lower level has honeycomb cells, where air absorbs the shock of your foot landing, then pushes out, feeding the energy back as your foot takes off.

From BBC

Gudis describes the sinuses as “compartments of little air-filled cavities, like a honeycomb,” or “an office with lots of cubicles in which each space is an air-filled compartment lined by a mucus membrane, surrounded by bony partitions.”

From Los Angeles Times

For a few hours at least, novels with protagonists like these allow me, one of so many busy bees in New York City’s go-go honeycomb, to flail vicariously, a smug literary tourist among the lonely-hearts and lost souls.

From New York Times

At Joy, also in Maryland, executive pastry chef Genesis Flores has put ube soft serve on the menu, coupled with salted peanut caramel, lemon-ginger syrup, honeycomb toffee, bee pollen and wae pieces.

From Salon

Related Words

• corrupt
• infest
• mar
• pepper
• pervade
• puncture