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Glite Dictionary
husking bee

husking bee

9.9
A community event where people gather to remove the outer leaves from corn and have fun
  • noun
  • /ˈhʌskɪŋ bi/
  • Archaic
translation icon : fiesta de desgranar
  • Every autumn, the community held a husking bee to prepare corn for the winter.

Examples

  • The old photographs showed families enjoying a husking bee in the barn.

  • She met her future husband at a lively husking bee organized by their neighbors.

  • The community organized a husking bee last Saturday.

  • Are you going to the husking bee this weekend?

  • Every autumn, the community held a husking bee to prepare corn for the winter.

  • She met her future husband at a lively husking bee organized by their neighbors.

  • The old photographs showed families enjoying a husking bee in the barn.

Synonyms

cornhusking
vshusking bee
  • US
7.6

An event where people remove the outer leaves from ears of corn together

is a festive social event built around that task rather than only the act

Surface Forms

husking bee singular
husking bees plural

Morphology

husking + bee

The compound is directly compositional: 'husking' (removing husks) combined with 'bee' (a communal task-gathering) yields a social event for husking corn, so the overall meaning follows from the parts. Although the use of 'bee' in this sense is regional/dated in English, a B1 learner who knows both constituent meanings can readily infer the MWE's meaning; similar compounding for communal tasks exists cross-linguistically.

Etymology

The noun husking bee comes from country meetings where neighbors sat together to remove corn husks; husking is the work and bee meant a friendly work party. That's why the phrase now means 'a social gathering where people help with a task and enjoy each other's company'.