‖ propolis
(ˈprɒpəlɪs)
[L. (Plin.) a. Gr. πρόπολις a suburb, also bee-glue, f. πρό before + πόλις city. So in F. (Paré c 1560).]
A red, resinous, aromatic substance collected by bees from the viscid buds of trees, as the horse-chestnut; used to stop up crevices, and fix the combs to the hives; bee-glue.
| [1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. xii. (Bodl. MS.) Þe þrid tyme scheo setteþ more grete matier and þik, and þat is þe stablemente and fastenynge of þee honye combes, and many men clepeþ that mater Propolim. 1598 Florio, Propoli, that which Bees make at the entrance of the hiues to keepe out cold, called Beeglue.] 1601 Holland Pliny I. 313 But Propolis consisteth of a more solid matter,..and serueth as a good defence against cold, and to stop the passage of waspes and such hurtful creatures as would do iniurie to the bees. Ibid. II. 338 With the like quantity of..the cereous matter in the Bee-hive called Propolis. 1766 Compl. Farmer s.v. Bee, She began by loosening the straw hive from the board on which it rested, and to which the bees had fastened it with propolis. 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xv. (1818) I. 502 M. Huber ascertained that this substance was actually propolis, collected from the buds of the poplar. 1882 Good Words 745 Propolis, an adhesive vegetable secretion, obtained..from various sources, the bud of the chestnut being the chief favorite. |
Hence ˈpropolize v. trans., to cover or secure with propolis.
| 1884 J. Phin Dict. Apiculture 55. |