honeycomb

Pronunciation: /ˈhʌnikəʊm/

The English word “honeycomb” has 15 meanings listed here.

noun

A substance made by bees (clade Anthophila) primarily from beeswax which has hexagonal cells to hold their larvae, and for storing pollen and honey to feed the larvae and themselves when other food is scarce; it is also eaten by humans as part of comb-honey; (countable) a single sheet made up of two layers of this substance.
Something resembling honeycomb (noun sense 1) in having numerous cells or small holes.
A space-filling packing of polytopes in three- or higher-dimensional space.
The texture of the surface of a solar cell, intended to increase its surface area and capture more sunlight.
A defect in a material (especially metal) where small holes are present; specifically (construction), a defect in concrete consisting of numerous voids resulting from the failure of mortar to effectively fill the spaces among coarse aggregate particles.
Material manufactured with small hollow cells, sometimes sandwiched between two flat sheets, which is used to make light, stiff structural components.
Something resembling honeycomb in sweetness; hence, something desirable or pleasant.
Used as a term of endearment: honey, sweetheart.
A crumbly confection usually made by boiling together golden syrup, sugar, bicarbonate of soda, and water.

verb

To riddle (something) with small holes, especially in a pattern resembling a honeycomb (noun sense 1); also, to cause (something) to become hollow or weakened in this way.
To bore cavities or tunnels inside (something).
To decorate (something) with a honeycomb pattern.
To make way deeply into (something) so as to weaken it; to undermine.
To ornament (a ceiling) with honeycomb work (see noun sense 2.4).
To become riddled with small holes, especially in a pattern resembling a honeycomb; also, to become hollow or weakened in this way.

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English honycomb, from Old English huniġcamb, from huniġ (“honey”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kn̥h₂ónks (“honey”)) + camb (“comb”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵómbʰos (“peg; tooth; row of teeth”)). The English word is analysable as honey + comb. The Oxford English Dictionary posits that the arrangement of several plates of wax “hanging parallel…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.