As busy as a bee

What's the meaning of the phrase 'As busy as a bee'?

Very busy. Of all creatures, the bee is the most synonymous with busyness.

What's the origin of the phrase 'As busy as a bee'?

The first person to record the use of the simile ‘as busy as a bee’ was Geoffrey Chaucer, in The Canterbury Tales, (tTe Squire’s Tale), 1386-1400:

Ey! Goddes mercy!” sayd our Hoste tho,
Now such a wyf I pray God keep me fro.
Lo, suche sleightes and subtilitees
In wommen be; for ay as busy as bees
Be thay us seely men for to desceyve,
And from a soth ever a lie thay weyve.
And by this Marchaundes tale it proveth wel.

“See other ‘as x as y similes‘.

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Gary Martin

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