SINCE 1828
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hive off

verb
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hived off; hiving off; hives off

Definition of hive 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 : spin off

Examples of hive off in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Fortum bought the operation several years ago from Germany utility E.ON, which was keen to hive off its fossil-fuel power-generation business and focus on renewables instead. — David Meyer, Fortune, 30 June 2022 The quarter was the first full one under new Chief Executive Peter Zaffino, and comes as the company is preparing to hive off its big life-insurance and retirement unit into a self-standing company. — Leslie Scism, WSJ, 5 Aug. 2021 All this might suggest the White House double down on infrastructure talks, an attempt to hive off $1 trillion or so of its ambitions in a bipartisan bill. — Kimberley A. Strassel, WSJ, 3 June 2021 The move to hive off the products into a company called Organon & Co. will allow Merck to focus on faster-growing cancer drugs, vaccines and animal-health items, Mr. Frazier said in February 2020 when the plan was first announced. — Nina Trentmann, WSJ, 24 Mar. 2021 The battle over the future of TikTok—the fast-growing short-form video app—is continuing this week as ByteDance Ltd., tech giant Microsoft Corp., and the Trump administration discuss outlines of a deal that could hive off TikTok’s U.S. operations. — Bowdeya Tweh, WSJ, 4 Aug. 2020 Other drugmakers in recent years have hived off lower-margin segments to recapture heady sales growth from cancer drugs and others. — Jared S. Hopkins, WSJ, 5 Feb. 2020 Uber, which is trading well below the price at its initial public offering, seeks to hive off money-losing businesses to achieve its goal of being profitable -- before taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization -- by 2021. — Edwin Chan, Bloomberg.com, 29 Apr. 2020 Executives hope cutting 18,000 jobs, hiving off €288 billion in assets into a bad bank for winding down, and withdrawal from international investment banking will save the German lender. — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 8 July 2019 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hive off.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of hive off

circa 1856, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

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Time Traveler for hive off

Time Traveler

The first known use of hive off was circa 1856

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Dictionary Entries Near hive off

hive mind

hive off

hiver

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Statistics for hive off

Last Updated

10 Jul 2022

Cite this Entry

“Hive off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hive%20off. Accessed 16 Aug. 2022.

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