queue

[ kyoo ]
/ kyu /

noun

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.

verb (used with or without object), queued, queu·ing.

to form in a line while waiting (often followed by up).
Computers. to arrange (data, jobs, messages, etc.) into a queue.

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Homophones are words that sound the same but mean different things (and are often times spelled differently too). "Queue" and "cue" are examples of homophones. Do you know what they both mean?

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Origin of queue

1585–95; < Middle French < Latin cauda, cōda tail

historical usage of 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

cue Kew queue

Example sentences from the Web for queue

British Dictionary definitions for queue

queue
/ (kjuː) mainly British /

noun

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

verb queues, queuing, queueing or queued

(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
US and Canadian word: line

Word Origin for queue

C16 (in the sense: tail); C18 (in the sense: pigtail): via French from Latin cauda tail