Dictionary

skep en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈskɛp/

Etymology

Late Old English sceppe, from Old Norse skeppa (“basket”). Cognate with Danish skæppe (“an old Danish unit of measure equalling 17.4 l”).

Meanings

1. A basket.
   • Old women crouched over bags of Siamese rice, skeps of red and green peppers, purple egg-plants, bristly rambutans, pineapples, durians. 1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 115:
2. A beehive made of straw or wicker.
   • Three of the hives had been overturned and the others had been rocked to and fro. The modern hive is a fearful thing to upset; the combs are not static as in a skep, but hang loosely: when the hive is overturned they smash and pile up like a telescoped train. 1958, John Crompton, A Hive of Bees:
   • She installs seven skeps at the furthest edge of the garden; on warm July days it is possible to hear the restless rumble of the bees from the house. 2020, Maggie O'Farrell, Hamnet:
   • He prised a skep from its stool and held it out, inverted, showing the dirty wreck of combs, with the vile grubs spinning their cocoons. 1977, Patrick O'Brian, The Mauritius Command:

Forms

Deriveds

skeppist · skepful · beeskep · bread-skep

Hypernyms

hive · beehive

Relateds

skip · creel

Synonyms

skip

Translations (5)

gl covo (beehive) · ota قوغان (beehive) · gl trobo (beehive) · ota پتك (beehive) · bg плетен кошер (beehive)

skep en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈskɛp/

Etymology

Late Old English sceppe, from Old Norse skeppa (“basket”). Cognate with Danish skæppe (“an old Danish unit of measure equalling 17.4 l”).

Meanings

1. (transitive) To transfer (bees) into a skep.

Forms