Busy as a bee means very busy, working hard without a break. It's usually said approvingly: the person gets a lot done and enjoys it. The expression is conversational and kind; people use it to describe a host before a celebration, absorbed children or an energetic colleague.
When would you say busy as a bee?
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be + (as) busy as a bee; a busy bee (about a person)
- Before the wedding my aunt was as busy as a bee, calling guests and ordering flowers.
- Our new intern is as busy as a bee but still finds time to help everyone else.
- The kids were busy as bees all morning, building a tree house in the garden.
What changed
First versionMy mum is busy like a bee before every holiday.
RevisionMy mum is as busy as a bee before every holiday.
Comparisons often use like, so busy like a bee can seem right. But this idiom is built as an as…as comparison: as busy as a bee. Like was replaced with as…as. In conversation, the first as is sometimes dropped: busy as a bee.
The bee is cheerful. When being busy feels exhausting and pointless, like running in circles, English uses other images, for example the rat race, an exhausting chase for money and career: I'm tired of the rat race. The bee also has a short noun form, a busy bee, meaning a hard worker: You've been a busy bee today!
Your turn
Grandma spent the whole day baking, cleaning and singing in the kitchen: she was as busy as ___.
Show the answer
a bee — Grandma bustles about all day and even sings, so she's busy and enjoying it, which is the image of the bee: as busy as a bee. There's no squirrel in this English idiom, and native speakers don't say as busy as a squirrel.
Describe a day when you or someone you know was very busy. Name two things that person managed to do.
On Saturday my dad was as busy as a bee: he painted the fence and fixed the kitchen tap.
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