queen

[ kween ]

/ kwin /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR queen ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a female sovereign or monarch.

the wife or consort of a king.

a woman, or something personified as a woman, that is foremost or preeminent in any respect: a movie queen; a beauty queen; Athens, the queen of the Aegean.

Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a male homosexual, especially one who is flamboyantly campy or effeminate.
drag queen.

a playing card bearing a picture of a queen.

Chess. the most powerful piece of either color, moved across any number of empty squares in any direction.

Entomology. a fertile female ant, bee, termite, or wasp.

a word formerly used in communications to represent the letter Q.

verb (used without object)

to reign as queen.

to behave in an imperious or pretentious manner (usually followed by it).

Chess. to become promoted to a queen.

Nearby words

quechan, quechua, quechuan, queckenstedt-stookey test, queef, queen, queen anne, queen anne's bounty, queen anne's lace, queen anne's war, queen bee

Origin of queen

before 900; Middle English quene, quen, Old English cwēn woman, queen; cognate with Old Saxon quān, Old Norse kvān, Gothic qēns < Germanic *kwēni-; akin to Old Irish ben, Greek gynḗ woman, Russian zhená, Sanskrit jani wife

Related formsqueen·less, adjectivequeen·like, adjectiveun·der·queen, noun

Definition for queen (2 of 2)

Queen

[ kween ]

/ kwin /

noun

Ellery, joint pen name of Manfred Bennington Lee and Frederick Dannay.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for queen

The last time there was a raid of this scale was in 2001, when 52 men were arrested on Queen Boat, a floating disco on the Nile.
Sisi Is Persecuting, Prosecuting, and Publicly Shaming Egypt’s Gays|Bel Trew|December 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
When they invade new territory, populations are low, and the queen has limited mate options.
Mongooses, Meerkats, and Ants, Oh My! Why Some Animals Keep Mating All in the Family|Helen Thompson|December 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Even the queen saw fit to honor him with the Order of the British Empire at Buckingham Palace in 2008.
The Greatest Rock Voice of All Time Belonged to Joe Cocker|Ted Gioia|December 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A palace insider however insisted to the Daily Beast today that the Queen was not about to abdicate.
Could The Queen Abdicate on Christmas Day?|Tom Sykes|December 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST

It had offered odds of 10-1 on the Queen abdicating during the Christmas message.
Could The Queen Abdicate on Christmas Day?|Tom Sykes|December 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Queen Sophia's letters were couched in very energetic language.
A History of Bohemian Literature|Count Ltzow
The Queen's speech contained no decided feature beyond recommending a reform in the administration of the Courts of Equity.
The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 1, April, 1851|Various
A player who gives the odds of a piece, may give it each game from the king's or queen's side, at his option.
Mrs. Hale's Receipts for the Million|Sarah Josepha Hale
He was a prime favourite with Queen Elizabeth, and she knew how to exalt and abase, to create and destroy.
The Birth of the Nation|Mrs. Roger A. Pryor
She tried to reply to the Queen with her own hand, but had to give up the attempt.
Queen Victoria As I Knew Her|Sir Theodore Martin

British Dictionary definitions for queen (1 of 2)

queen

/ (kwiːn) /

noun

a female sovereign who is the official ruler or head of state

the wife or widow of a king

a woman or a thing personified as a woman considered the best or most important of her kinda beauty queen; the queen of ocean liners

slang an effeminate male homosexual

the only fertile female in a colony of social insects, such as bees, ants, and termites, from the eggs of which the entire colony develops
(as modifier)a queen bee

an adult female cat

one of four playing cards in a pack, one for each suit, bearing the picture of a queen

a chess piece, theoretically the most powerful piece, able to move in a straight line in any direction or diagonally, over any number of squares

verb

chess to promote (a pawn) to a queen when it reaches the eighth rank

(tr) to crown as queen

(intr) informal (of a gay man) to flaunt one's homosexuality

(intr) to reign as queen

queen it (often foll by over) informal to behave in an overbearing manner

Word Origin for queen

Old English cwēn; related to Old Saxon quān wife, Old Norse kvæn, Gothic qēns wife

British Dictionary definitions for queen (2 of 2)

Queen

/ (kwiːn) /

noun

Ellery (ˈɛlərɪ). pseudonym of Frederic Dannay (1905–82) and Manfred B. Lee (1905–71), US co-authors of detective novels featuring a sleuth also called Ellery Queen

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for queen

queen

Old English cwen "queen, female ruler of a state, woman, wife," from Proto-Germanic *kwoeniz (cf. Old Saxon quan "wife," Old Norse kvaen, Gothic quens), ablaut variant of *kwenon (source of quean), from PIE *gwen- "woman, wife" supposedly originally "honored woman" (cf. Greek gyné "a woman, a wife;" Gaelic bean "woman;" Sanskrit janis "a woman," gná "wife of a god, a goddess;" Avestan jainish "wife;" Armenian kin "woman;" Old Church Slavonic zena, Old Prussian genna "woman;" Gothic qino "a woman, wife; qéns "a queen").

The original sense seems to have been "wife," specialized by Old English to "wife of a king." In Old Norse, still mostly of a wife generally, e.g. kvan-fang "marriage, taking of a wife," kvanlauss "unmarried, widowed," kvan-riki "the domineering of a wife." English is one of the few Indo-European languages to have a word for "queen" that is not a feminine derivative of a word for "king." The others are Scandinavian: Old Norse drottning, Danish dronning, Swedish drottning "queen," in Old Norse also "mistress," but these also are held to be ultimately from male words, e.g. Old Norse drottinn "master."

Used of chess piece from mid-15c. (as a verb in chess, in reference to a pawn that has reached the last rank, from 1789), of playing card from 1570s. Of bees from c.1600 (until late 17c., they generally were thought to be kings; cf. "Henry V," I.ii); queen bee in a figurative sense is from 1807. Meaning "male homosexual" (especially a feminine and ostentatious one) first certainly recorded 1924; probably here an alteration of quean, which is earlier in this sense. Queen Anne first used 1878 for "style characteristic of the time of Queen Anne of Great Britain and Ireland," who reigned 1702-14. Cincinnati, Ohio, has been the Queen City (of the West) since 1835.

queen

noun

verb (used without object)

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Origin of queen

Definition for queen (2 of 2)

Queen

noun

Examples from the Web for queen

British Dictionary definitions for queen (1 of 2)

queen

noun

verb

Word Origin for queen

British Dictionary definitions for queen (2 of 2)

Queen

noun

Word Origin and History for queen

queen