Mother-hive

Alternative forms

Noun

noun

1. the principal or source hive of a colony of beesA mother-hive of bees is 24 pence in value. — Arthur Wade-Evans, Welsh Medieval Law
2. a location similarly serving as the source of a group of peopleWhitman came over in the True Love in 1640 to America and lived in Weymouth, Mass., which place became the mother-hive of the New Englanders of the name. — Walt Whitman, "Specimen Days"