n.
- the female ruler of an independent state, especially one who inherits the position by right of birth.
▸
(also queen consort)
a king's wife.
▸a woman or girl holding the most important position in a festival or event.
- a woman or thing regarded as the finest or most important in its sphere or group.
- informal a man's wife or girlfriend.
- the most powerful chess piece, able to move in any direction.
- a playing card bearing a representation of a queen, ranking next below a king.
- Entomology a reproductive female in a colony of ants, bees, wasps, or termites.
- an adult female cat that has not been spayed.
- informal a flamboyantly effeminate male homosexual.
v.
-
(queen it)
(of a woman) act in an unpleasantly superior way.
- Chess convert (a pawn) into a queen when it reaches the opponent's end of the board.
Derivative
- queendom n.
- queen-like adj.
- queenliness n.
- queenly adj.
- queenship n.
Etymology
OE cwēn, of Gmc origin; rel. to quean.