queue

American  

[kyoo] / kju /

noun

• queues
  plural

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.

---

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

---

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• queues
  plural

Participles

• queuing
  present
• queued
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• queue
  simple
• queues
  simple
• have queued
  perfect
• has queued
  perfect
• am queuing
  progressive
• are queuing
  progressive
• is queuing
  progressive
• have been queuing
  perfect progressive
• has been queuing
  perfect progressive

Past

• queued
  simple
• had queued
  perfect
• was queuing
  progressive
• were queuing
  progressive
• had been queuing
  perfect progressive

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

See Examples For:

queue queues queued queuing

He noted that there is “not one electron” of always-on power, sometimes referred to as baseload, in the California Independent System Operator’s interconnection queue.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

In the microbiology lab, she prepares the stacks of samples piling up in the queue for examination.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

Offer water: Set up a water station separate from the bar so people don't have to queue.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

What culture have you been consuming this summer, and what’s next in your queue?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026

A pair of witches broke away from the queue for the lift and bustled off.

From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling

The situation had eased at the end of July, but queues and local shortages of some fuel types have reemerged in Moscow in recent days.

From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026

Tickets went on sale Tuesday and were going briskly, with digital wait times reported of more than four hours in queues with as many as 13,000 guests.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026

Some European airports have seen hours-long queues at passport control.

From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026

This week, Ryanair said "the failed EES rollout" was causing unnecessary delays and long queues.

From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026

They passed through the gates and into a smaller hall, where queues were forming in front of twenty golden grilles housing as many lifts.

From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling

The Russian capital braced Wednesday for a possible fresh wave of fuel shortages as drivers queued nervously to fill up tanks after recent Ukrainian strikes.

From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026

More than 600 people queued up outside a former burger bar on Bridge Street, Peterborough, to pick up free second-hand school clothes.

From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026

Customers queued in long lines to snap up a special-edition Harry Potter collection last year, for example.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

"I've queued in rain, sun and once hail... at the age we are now it is always a joy to get tickets and not have to queue," she says.

From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026

With round- the-clock pressure to test the airplanes queued up in the hangar, engineers would welcome the additional hands.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

The high number of UK passengers arriving means some degree of queuing is to be expected, but he insisted people should "not be afraid" because things would move quickly.

From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026

But for several weeks, queuing for petrol has become a staple of life during the dragging Ukraine conflict, causing impatience at petrol stations.

From Barron's ● Jul. 18, 2026

Those queuing to meet her included a starstruck 21-year-old man clutching a 1980s vinyl album.

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

However, compared to a premium of 38%, these are negligible and without unforeseen obstacles, hedge funds and proprietary trading desks will be queuing up to put the trade on.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026

Hermione was already queuing outside, carrying an armful of heavy books and looking put-upon.

From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling