queue

[ kyoo ]
See synonyms for queue on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a braid of hair worn hanging down behind.

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

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

verb (used with or without object),queued, queu·ing.
  1. to form in a line while waiting (often followed by up).

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

Origin of queue

1
First recorded in 1585–95; from Middle French, from Latin cauda, cōda “tail”

word story For queue

The English noun queue comes from Middle French queu, quewe, queuue, cueue (with many other variant spellings) and Old French cue, coe “tail,” from Latin cauda (also cōda ) “tail (of an animal or scorpion),” also “penis.”
The first recorded meaning of queue in English, from Old French, dates from the late 15th century and meant “a band of parchment attached to a document and bearing a seal.” The historical sense “a braid of hair worn hanging down from the head or a wig,” dates from the 18th century. The very modern computing sense of queue “a sequence of items, as data, messages, jobs, or the like, waiting for action” dates from the 1960s.

Other words from queue

  • queu·er, noun

Words that may be confused with queue

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use queue in a sentence

  • I stand in queues for hours because my servants won't—it's the latest form of democracy—but I can't obtain fat.

    The Title | Arnold Bennett
  • But, instead of bakers-queues, why not to Aristocrats palaces, the root of the matter?

  • Crepe paper of various hues is provided for the costumes, and black thread for the queues.

    Suppers | Paul Pierce
  • Many of the men do up the hair in queues with worsted ribbons, with heavy tassels that hang below the waist.

  • Wigs in three divisions of loops at the back pass by, wigs in long queues, wigs in back and side bobs.

    English Costume | Dion Clayton Calthrop

British Dictionary definitions for queue

queue

/ (kjuː) mainly British /


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

  1. a pigtail

  2. jump the queue See queue-jump

verbqueues, queuing, queueing or queued
  1. (intr often foll by up) 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

Origin of queue

1
C16 (in the sense: tail); C18 (in the sense: pigtail): via French from Latin cauda tail
  • US and Canadian word: line

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