quilting bee
- noun
- /ˈkwɪltɪŋ bi/
- US
- Or women—linen caps tied at the chin, spindle-backed rockers, and quilting bees.
- an old-fashioned quilting bee
Examples
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The women of Springwater couldn't be accused of shunning her; she was invited to every tea party, every church social, and every quilting bee.
Fiction book (1999) -
Aren't you planning to join us at Rachel's for the quilting bee?
Fiction book (1999) -
I made my first one as part of my first online quilting bee over 3 years ago!
Blog text (10) -
I must say, the ladies in my quilting bee are beginning to speak highly of your father's ideas.
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Yeah, I'm sure it's gonna be one kick-ass quilting bee.
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I don't know if it was simply the energy of late spring and the joy of warm weather coming that kept my quilting bees buzzing.
Fiction book (1992) -
When AIDS activists organize a national quilting bee, when evangelical writers celebrate home schooling, when the First Lady proclaims that it takes a village to raise a child, they are all creating new versions of the American pastoral.
Academic text (2002) -
Every month, the local women gather for a quilting bee to create beautiful quilts and enjoy each other's company.
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Last Saturday, we held a lively quilting bee where everyone brought fabric to share and worked together on a community project.
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My grandmother loves hosting a quilting bee in her backyard, inviting friends to join her in crafting quilts while sharing stories.
Synonyms
A gathering where people meet to work together on a task or compete
How Social
- US
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'quilting' (making quilts) with 'bee' (a communal gathering to work on a task), yielding a social event where people make quilts together. This is a straightforward noun+noun composition and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituent senses (noting that 'bee' as a gathering is a specialized but compositional sense).
Etymology
Quilting bee comes from community meetings where people met to do quilting together and help each other. The word bee once meant a friendly 'gathering' to do work, so the image of neighbors sewing and talking explains why quilting bee means 'a social gathering to make quilts'.