bevy, bevie

[Etym. doubtful.] Apparently from O. Ital. beva = a bevy, as of pheasants ( Florio ); Mod. Ital. beva = a drinking; from bevere (in which case bevy would be properly a drinking party) = to drink. Skinner, Johnson, Wedgwood, and Skeat are of opinion that this is the most probable etymology. But Mahn prefers to derive bevy from Arm, beva = life, to live; bev living in which case the proper meaning would be lively beings.] 1. A flock of birds, specially of quails. 2. A company, an a emblage of people. Most frequently applied to females. "A bevy of fair women, richly gay" Milton : P. L., Dk. xi. the whole bery of renegades, Dover, Peter borough, Murray, Sunder land, and Mulgrave, Macaulay: Hist . Eng ., ch. viii. A contemporary of Spenser's, who wrote a glo ary to the poet's "Shepherd's Calendar," includes bevy in his list of old words, but since then it has completely revived. (Trench: English Past and Present, p. 55.) * bê-vỹr, s. [BEAVER (1).] ( Prompt. Parv.)