queen Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun the only fertile female in a colony of social insects such as bees and ants and termites; its function is to lay eggs
noun a female sovereign ruler
female monarch; queen regnant.
noun the wife or widow of a king
noun 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
noun a competitor who holds a preeminent position
world-beater; king.
noun offensive term for an openly homosexual man
poove; fairy; nance; fagot; pansy; poof; queer; pouf; faggot; fag.
noun one of four face cards in a deck bearing a picture of a queen
noun (chess) the most powerful piece
noun 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
queen mole rat.
noun female cat
tabby.
verb promote to a queen, as of a pawn in chess
verb become a queen
- her pawn queened

OE. quen, quene, queen, quean, AS. cwen wife, queen, woman; akin to OS. quan wife, woman, Icel. kvan wife, queen, Goth. qens. See Quean.

The wife of a king.
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.
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.
The fertile, or fully developed, female of social bees, ants, and termites.

imperfect & past participle Queened ; present participle & verbal noun 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.