queue
a braid of hair worn hanging down behind.
a file or line, especially of people waiting their turn.
Computers. a FIFO-organized sequence of items, as data, messages, jobs, or the like, waiting for action.
to form in a line while waiting (often followed by up).
Computers. to arrange (data, jobs, messages, etc.) into a queue.
Origin of queue
1word story For queue
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
- cue, queue
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use queue in a sentence
All the shirtless photos hunting tigers and harpooning whales are love letters to the endless queues of fatherless girls.
Meanwhile, in the southern city of Guangzhou, the queues at toll gates saw cars moving just half a mile an hour.
Stars dotting the room at the tables for their films received steady queues of greeters.
‘The Artist’ Sweeps at Independent Spirit Awards | Richard Rushfield | February 26, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTA player queues up actions and then hits a button to execute those actions all at once.
With so many desperate to find a mode of transportation, queues are forming even in front of rental-car shops.
Japan's First Dark Night After the Earthquake and Tsunami | Lennox Samuels | March 11, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
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 BennettBut, instead of bakers-queues, why not to Aristocrats palaces, the root of the matter?
The Outline of History: Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind | Herbert George WellsCrepe paper of various hues is provided for the costumes, and black thread for the queues.
Suppers | Paul PierceMany of the men do up the hair in queues with worsted ribbons, with heavy tassels that hang below the waist.
The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 1 | Hubert Howe BancroftWigs 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
/ (kjuː) mainly British /
a line of people, vehicles, etc, waiting for something: a queue at the theatre
computing a list in which entries are deleted from one end and inserted at the other
a pigtail
jump the queue See queue-jump
(intr often foll by up) to form or remain in a line while waiting
computing to arrange (a number of programs) in a predetermined order for accessing by a computer
Origin of queue
1- 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
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