A social gathering for work and play. See HUSKING-BEE, LYNCHING-BEE, QUILTING-BEE.
1769. Last Thursday about twenty young Ladies met at the House of Mr. L., on purpose for a Spinning Match; (or what is called in the Country a Bee.) They met at six o’clock in the Morning, and continued diligently at Work till six at Night.—Letter from Taunton, Mass., Sept. 23: Boston-Gazette, Oct. 16.
1829. This collection of neighbours is called a Bee, and is the common custom to assist each other in any great piece of labour, such as building a house, logging, &c. The person who ‘calls the bee’ is expected to feed them well, and to return their work day for day. [The instance is Canadian.]—Basil Hall, ‘Travels in North America,’ i. 311–2.
1853. [They] began to think that a “Bee” should be given for the benefit of the young clergyman.—F. W. Shelton, ‘The Rector of St. Bardolph’s,’ p. 18 (N.Y.).
1853. Those annual assemblages called “bees” and “spinning visits,” which are common in country parishes, and serve to eke out deficient salaries.—Id., p. 237.
