queen

[ kween ]

/ kwin /

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.

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

OTHER WORDS FROM queen

queen·less, adjective queen·like, adjective un·der·queen, noun

Words nearby queen

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

British Dictionary definitions for queen it (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 kind a 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 it (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

Idioms and Phrases with queen it

queen it

Act like a queen, domineer, as in She queened it over the family, treating her siblings like servants. This female counterpart of lord it over was used by Shakespeare in The Winter's Tale (4:4). [c. 1600]

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

queen

noun

verb (used without object)

Origin of queen

OTHER WORDS FROM queen

Words nearby queen

British Dictionary definitions for queen it (1 of 2)

noun

verb

Word Origin for queen

British Dictionary definitions for queen it (2 of 2)

noun

Idioms and Phrases with queen it

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

queen

noun

verb (used without object)

Origin of queen

OTHER WORDS FROM queen

Words nearby queen

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []) .push({}); British Dictionary definitions for queen it (1 of 2)

noun

verb

Word Origin for queen

British Dictionary definitions for queen it (2 of 2)

noun

Idioms and Phrases with queen it

British Dictionary definitions for queen it (1 of 2)