bevy

English

WOTD – 11 August 2012, 11 August 2013, 11 August 2014

Etymology

From Middle English bevey, of uncertain origin, possibly Anglo-Norman. Also modern Scouse variant spelling of bevvy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛvi/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Homophone: bevvy

Noun

bevy (plural bevies)

1. (collective) A group of animals, particularly quail.
   • 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 217:

     The pond was another favourite place to visit. Moorhens strutted from the neighbouring bushes, and a bevy of Muscovy ducks, a study in black, white and red, waddled from the farmyard hard by to enjoy a refreshing splash.

2. (collective) A small group of people, especially girls or women.
   • 1755, Adam Fitz-Adam, The World, number CXXI, London, page 789:

     In the midſt of all this buſtle, I was ſtruck with the appearance of a large bevy of beauties and women of the firſt fashion, who with all the perfect confidence of good breeding, inſhrined themſelves in the ſeveral temples dedicated to the Cyprian Venus[.]

   • 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume II, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 365:

     The same messenger who summoned the whole bevy of renegades, Dover, Peterborough, Murray, Sunderland, and Mulgrave, could just as easily have summoned Clarendon.

   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume I, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC, phase the first (The Maiden), pages 22–23:

     The two elder of the brothers were plainly not intending to linger more than a moment, but the spectacle of a bevy of girls dancing without male partners seemed to amuse the third, and make him in no hurry to move on.

   • 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly‎, volume 188, number 26, page 36:

     For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.

3. (collective) A large group or collection.
   • 2017 January 12, Brian Fung, “Why AT&T’s top execs visited Trump Tower”, in The Washington Post‎:

     Thursday's session makes AT&T the latest high-profile company to meet with Trump after the president-elect's series of job-related talks with firms such as Softbank, Carrier and a bevy of tech companies including Google, Facebook and Apple.

Translations

large group of birds

Armenian: երամ (hy) (eram), տարմ (hy) (tarm) Bulgarian: ято (bg) n (jato) Chinese: Mandarin: 群 (zh) (qún) Czech: hejno (cs) n Dutch: zwerm (nl) m, vlucht (nl) f, schare (nl) f Finnish: parvi (fi) French: vol (fr), passée (fr) German: Schwarm (de) m, Schar (de) f Hungarian: csapat (hu) Italian: stormo (it), volata (it), passo (it) Japanese: 群れ (ja) (むれ, mure) Occitan: banda (oc) f, bandada f Portuguese: bando (pt) m Romanian: stol (ro) n Russian: ста́я (ru) f (stája) Spanish: bandada (es) Swedish: flock (sv) Turkish: kuş sürüsü

group of persons

Czech: houf (cs) m, skupina (cs) f Russian: ста́йка (ru) f (stájka) Spanish: grupo (es) m

large group or collection

Armenian: խումբ (hy) (xumb), հավաքույթ (hy) (havakʻuytʻ) Dutch: hoop (nl) m, troep (nl) m, schare (nl) f German: Schar (de) f Hungarian: sereg (hu), csapat (hu), csoport (hu), (egy) sor (hu), tömeg (hu), sokaság (hu) Portuguese: bando (pt) m Russian: собра́ние (ru) n (sobránije), колле́кция (ru) f (kollékcija) Spanish: colección (es) Turkish: sürü (tr)

Further reading

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “bevy”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.