queue

American  

[kyoo] / kyu /

noun

1. a braid of hair worn hanging down behind.

2. a file or line, especially of people waiting their turn.

3. Computers. a FIFO-organized sequence of items, as data, messages, jobs, or the like, waiting for action.

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verb (used with or without object)

queues, present (3rd person singular) queued, past participle, past queuing present participle

1. to form in a line while waiting (often followed byup ).

2. Computers. to arrange (data, jobs, messages, etc.) into a queue.

queue British  

/ kjuː /

noun

1. a line of people, vehicles, etc, waiting for something

   a queue at the theatre

2. computing a list in which entries are deleted from one end and inserted at the other

3. a pigtail

4. See queue-jump

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verb

1. to form or remain in a line while waiting

2. computing to arrange (a number of programs) in a predetermined order for accessing by a computer

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• queuer
  noun

Conjugated Forms

Present

• have queued
  perfect
• has queued
  perfect 3rd person singular
• has been queuing
  perfect progressive 3rd person singular
• am queuing
  progressive 1st person singular
• queues
  singular 3rd person
• are queuing
  progressive
• have been queuing
  perfect progressive
• queuing
  participle
• is queuing
  progressive 3rd person singular

Past

• had queued
  perfect
• were queuing
  progressive plural
• queued
  simple
• had been queuing
  perfect progressive
• queued
  participle
• was queuing
  progressive singular

Future

• will queue
  simple
• will have queued
  perfect
• will be queuing
  progressive
• will have been queuing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of queue

First recorded in 1585–95; from Middle French, from Latin cauda, cōda “tail”

Explanation

A queue is a line of things, usually people. If you go to the store on a big sale day, there will probably be a long queue at the check-out. Queue comes from the Latin cauda, for "tail." Outside the United States it means a line of people or vehicles waiting their turn, so if your English friend talks about queuing up for the movies, that means getting in line for a ticket. We also use it in computing to mean an order of messages to be sent. In a big office, you send documents to the printer queue, and they're printed in the order they are sent.

Example Sentences

Since the war began, both Ukraine and Moldova have joined the queue of countries seeking accession alongside the Balkan hopefuls: Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026

Since the war began, both Ukraine and Moldova have joined the queue of countries seeking accession alongside Balkan hopefuls: Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026

Now, it is preparing to add customers requesting more than 4,000 megawatts of service—and an additional 19,000 megawatts of requests are waiting in a queue, more than twice the system’s peak demand.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 4, 2026

After reaching the top the pair chose to skip the queue, as they just wanted to touch the summit and head back down.

From BBC • May 28, 2026

His long black glossy braided queue, tied at the bottom with a narrow piece of black silk, hung over his shoulder and moved rhythmically against his chest.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck