Adjacent Words

Queen definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

QUEEN, n.
1. The consort of a king; a queen consort.
2. A woman who is the sovereign of a kingdom; a queen-regent; as Elizabeth, queen of England; Mary, queen of Scotland.
3. The sovereign of a swarm of bees, or the female of the hive.
A hive of bees cannot subsist without a queen.
Queen of the meadows, meadow sweet, a plant of the genus Spiraea.
QUEEN, v.i. To play the queen; to act the part or character of a queen.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the only fertile female in a colony of social insects such as bees and ants and termites; its function is to lay eggs
2: a female sovereign ruler [syn: queen, queen regnant, female monarch] [ant: Rex, king, male monarch]
3: the wife or widow of a king
4: something personified as a woman who is considered the best or most important of her kind; "Paris is the queen of cities"; "the queen of ocean liners"
5: a competitor who holds a preeminent position [syn: king, queen, world-beater]
6: offensive term for an openly homosexual man [syn: fagot, faggot, fag, fairy, nance, pansy, queen, queer, poof, poove, pouf]
7: one of four face cards in a deck bearing a picture of a queen
8: (chess) the most powerful piece
9: an especially large mole rat and the only member of a colony of naked mole rats to bear offspring which are sired by only a few males [syn: queen, queen mole rat]
10: female cat [syn: tabby, queen] v
1: promote to a queen, as of a pawn in chess
2: become a queen; "her pawn queened"

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English quene, from Old English cw?n woman, wife, queen; akin to Gothic qens wife, Greek gyn? woman, Sanskrit jani Date: before 12th century 1. a. the wife or widow of a king b. the wife or widow of a tribal chief 2. a. a female monarch b. a female chieftain 3. a. a woman eminent in rank, power, or attractions <a movie queen> b. a goddess or a thing personified as female and having supremacy in a specified realm c. an attractive girl or woman; especially a beauty contest winner 4. the most privileged piece of each color in a set of chessmen having the power to move in any direction across any number of unoccupied squares 5. a playing card marked with a stylized figure of a queen 6. the fertile fully developed female of social bees, ants, and termites whose function is to lay eggs 7. a mature female cat kept especially for breeding 8. often disparaging a male homosexual; especially an effeminate one II. verb Date: 1611 intransitive verb 1. to act like a queen; especially to put on airs — usually used with it <queens it over her friends> 2. to become a queen in chess <the pawn queens> transitive verb to promote (a pawn) to a queen in chess

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 (as a title usu. Queen) a female sovereign etc., esp. the hereditary ruler of an independent State. 2 (in full queen consort) a king's wife. 3 a woman, country, or thing pre-eminent or supreme in a specified area or of its kind (tennis queen; the queen of roses). 4 the fertile female among ants, bees, etc. 5 the most powerful piece in chess. 6 a court card with a picture of a queen. 7 sl. a male homosexual, esp. an effeminate one. 8 a an honoured female, e.g. the Virgin Mary (Queen of Heaven). b an ancient goddess (Venus, Queen of love). 9 a belle or mock sovereign on some occasion (beauty queen; queen of the May). 10 a person's sweetheart, wife, or mistress. 11 (the Queen) (in the UK) the national anthem when there is a female sovereign. --v.tr. 1 make (a woman) queen. 2 Chess convert (a pawn) into a queen when it reaches the opponent's side of the board. Phrases and idioms: Queen-Anne in the style of English architecture, furniture, etc., in or about Queen Anne's time, the early 18th c. Queen Anne's lace cow-parsley. queen bee 1 the fertile female in a hive. 2 the chief or controlling woman in an organization or social group. queen-cake a small soft cake often with raisins etc. queen dowager the widow of a king. queen it play the queen. queen mother the dowager who is mother of the sovereign. queen of the meadows meadowsweet. queen of puddings a pudding made with bread, jam, and meringue. queen-post one of two upright timbers between the tie-beam and principal rafters of a roof-truss. Queen's bench see BENCH. queen's bishop, knight , etc. Chess (of pieces which exist in pairs) the piece starting on the queen's side of the board. Queen's bounty see BOUNTY. Queen's colour see COLOUR. Queen's Counsel see COUNSEL. the Queen's English see ENGLISH. Queen's evidence see EVIDENCE. Queen's Guide see GUIDE. Queen's highway see HIGHWAY. queen-size (or -sized) of an extra-large size, usu. smaller than king-size. Queen's Messenger see MESSENGER. queen's pawn Chess the pawn in front of the queen at the beginning of a game. Queen's Proctor see PROCTOR. Queen's Scout see SCOUT(1). Queen's speech see SPEECH. queen's-ware cream-coloured Wedgwood. Derivatives: queendom n. queenhood n. queenless adj. queenlike adj. queenship n. Etymology: OE cwen f. Gmc; cf. QUEAN

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Queen Queen, v. i. To act the part of a queen. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Queen Queen, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Queened; p. pr. & vb. n. Queening.] (Chess.) To make a queen (or other piece, at the player's discretion) of by moving it to the eighth row; as, to queen a pawn.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Queen Queen, n. [OE. quen, quene, queen, quean, AS. cw[=e]n wife, queen, woman; akin to OS. qu[=a]n wife, woman, Icel. kv[=a]n wife, queen, Goth. q[=e]ns. [root]221. See Quean.] 1. The wife of a king. 2. A woman who is the sovereign of a kingdom; a female monarch; as, Elizabeth, queen of England; Mary, queen of Scots. In faith, and by the heaven's quene. --Chaucer. 3. A woman eminent in power or attractions; the highest of her kind; as, a queen in society; -- also used figuratively of cities, countries, etc. `` This queen of cities.'' `` Albion, queen of isles.'' --Cowper. 4. The fertile, or fully developed, female of social bees, ants, and termites. 5. (Chess) The most powerful, and except the king the most important, piece in a set of chessmen. 6. A playing card bearing the picture of a queen; as, the queen of spades.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(queens) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. A queen is a woman who rules a country as its monarch. ...Queen Victoria... She met the Queen last week. N-TITLE; N-COUNT: oft the N 2. A queen is a woman who is married to a king. The king and queen had fled. N-TITLE; N-COUNT: oft the N 3. If you refer to a woman as the queen of a particular activity, you mean that she is well-known for being very good at it. ...the queen of crime writing. N-COUNT: with supp, N of n, n N see also beauty queen 4. In chess, the queen is the most powerful piece. It can be moved in any direction. N-COUNT 5. A queen is a playing card with a picture of a queen on it. ...the queen of spades. N-COUNT: oft the N of n 6. A queen or a queen bee is a large female bee which can lay eggs. N-COUNT

Easton's Bible Dictionary

No explicit mention of queens is made till we read of the "queen of Sheba." The wives of the kings of Israel are not so designated. In Ps. 45:9, the Hebrew for "queen" is not _malkah_, one actually ruling like the Queen of Sheba, but _shegal_, which simply means the king's wife. In 1 Kings 11:19, Pharaoh's wife is called "the queen," but the Hebrew word so rendered (g'birah) is simply a title of honour, denoting a royal lady, used sometimes for "queen-mother" (1 Kings 15:13; 2 Chron. 15:16). In Cant. 6:8, 9, the king's wives are styled "queens" (Heb. melakhoth).

In the New Testament we read of the "queen of the south", i.e., Southern Arabia, Sheba (Matt. 12:42; Luke 11:31) and the "queen of the Ethiopians" (Acts 8:27), Candace.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

kwen: The Bible applies this term:

(1) To the wife of a king ("queen consort") (malkah). In the Book of Esther it is the title given to Vashti (1:9) and Esther (2:22); compare So 6:8 f. Another Hebrew word for queen consort is gebhirah, literally "mistress" (compare 1Ki 11:19, the wife of Pharaoh; 2Ki 10:13, "the children of the king and the children of the queen"). In Ne 2:6 and Ps 45:9 we find the expression sheghal, which some trace back to shaghal, "to ravish," a rather doubtful derivation. Still another term is sarah, literally, "princess" (Isa 49:23). The Septuagint sometimes uses the word basilissa; compare Ps 45:9.

(2) To a female ruler or sovereign ("queen regnant"). The only instances are those of the queen (malkah) of Sheba (1Ki 10:1-13; compare 2Ch 9:1-12) and of Candace, the queen (basilissa) of the Ethiopians (Ac 8:27). In Mt 12:42 (compare Lu 11:31) Christ refers to the queen of the south (basilissa notou), meaning, of course, the queen of Sheba.

(3) To a heathen deity, melekheth ha-shamayim, "the queen of heaven" (Jer 7:18; 44:17 ).

See QUEEN OF HEAVEN.

(4) Metaphorically, to the city of Babylon (Rome) (Re 18:7): an expression denoting sovereign contempt and imaginary dignity and power.

William Baur

Foolish Dictionary

One entitled to rule a nation, make up a deck, or beat a knave.

Moby Thesaurus

Kaiserin, ace, ant, army ant, auntie, beauty queen, bee, begum, best bower, bi-guy, bisexual, bishop, black ant, bower, bull dyke, bumblebee, butch, cards, carpenter ant, castle, catamite, champion, chessman, chicken, choice, chosen, clubs, cream, crown princess, cynosure, czarina, deck, deuce, diamonds, diva, drone, dummy, dyke, elect, elite, emmet, empress, epitome, face cards, fag, faggot, fairy, fat, femme, fire ant, flit, flower, flush, fricatrice, fruit, full house, grand duchess, gunsel, hand, hearts, homo, homophile, homosexual, homosexualist, honeybee, hornet, house ant, idol, infanta, invert, jack, joker, king, knave, knight, kumari, kunwari, leader, leading light, left bower, lesbian, maharani, malikzadi, man, model, monarch, nance, nonesuch, nonpareil, optimum, pack, pair, pansy, paragon, pathic, pawn, pick, picture cards, piece, pismire, playing cards, prima donna, prime, princess, princesse, prize, punk, queen bee, queen consort, queen dowager, queen regent, queen regnant, queer, quintessence, raj-kumari, rani, red ant, rook, round, royal flush, rubber, ruff, ruler, sapphist, select, shahzadi, singleton, slave ant, soldier, sovereign, sovereign princess, sovereign queen, spades, star, straight, superlative, termite, the best, the best ever, the tops, the very best, trey, tribade, trick, trump, wasp, worker, yellow jacket