What it means
A cheery old-school way to say something is absolutely top tier. It came out of that bouncy 1920s craze for daft animal phrases, and the nonsense is half the charm. If your chips are unreal, your jacket fits perfect, or a new gadget's doing bits, you can call it the bee's knees.
Usage examples
"Her new coffee machine is the bee's knees, I want one exactly like it."
"She thinks her new sound system is the bee's knees, plays it far too loud."
"This new coffee machine is the bee's knees, best money I ever spent."
"That little bakery on the corner is the bee's knees, I'm telling you, not a single bad thing in there."
"You fixed my old speakers and now they're the bee's knees, mate."
Where it comes from
This is genuine 1920s American slang. It popped up during a whole craze for goofy praise phrases like the cat's pyjamas and the snake's hips, where the silliness was the point. "The bee's knees" stuck because it sounds gloriously daft while still landing a clean bit of admiration.
Other ways to say it
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