hive off

verb

hived off; hiving off; hives off

intransitive verb

chiefly British : to break away from or as if from a group : become separate

transitive verb

chiefly British : to make separate: such as
a
: to remove from a group
hive off the rookies for special training
b
: to assign (assets, responsibilities, etc.) to another
c

Examples of hive off in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Philippine billionaire Lance Gokongwei is hiving off about 30.7 billion pesos ($536 million) worth of shopping malls into his family’s RL Commercial REIT that will help the group’s diversified property arm Robinsons Land Corp. raise funds to bankroll its expansion plans. Ian Sayson, Forbes.com, 20 June 2025 Vermont was originally part of New York, Maine was hived off from Massachusetts, Tennessee was the western part of North Carolina, Kentucky and West Virginia were originally Virginia territory, and the Virginia part of the district boomeranged back. Jeremy Lott, The Washington Examiner, 13 June 2025 Even the streamers are becoming more cost-conscious, paying local rates for local content, often hiving off rights for select territories instead of doing the worldwide deals that were once the norm. Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Mar. 2025 Michael Flaherty Updated Jan 13, 2025 - Business Corporate spinoffs grow in size and complexity The average size of corporate spinoffs is growing, as CEOs look beyond hiving off unloved divisions and toward more complex, transformative deals. Dan Primack, Axios, 6 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for hive off

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1856, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Time Traveler
The first known use of hive off was circa 1856

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Cite this Entry

“Hive off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hive%20off. Accessed 30 Jun. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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