QUEUE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does queue mean? 

• QUEUE (noun)
  The noun QUEUE has 3 senses:

1. a line of people or vehicles waiting for something

2. (information processing) an ordered list of tasks to be performed or messages to be transmitted

3. a braid of hair at the back of the head

  Familiarity information: QUEUE used as a noun is uncommon.

• QUEUE (verb)
  The verb QUEUE has 1 sense:

1. form a queue, form a line, stand in line

  Familiarity information: QUEUE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• QUEUE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A line of people or vehicles waiting for something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

queue; waiting line

Hypernyms ("queue" is a kind of...):

line (a formation of people or things one behind another)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "queue"):

bread line; breadline (a queue of people waiting for free food)

checkout line (a queue of people waiting to pay for purchases)

chow line (a queue of people waiting for food to be served (especially at a military camp))

gas line (a queue of vehicles waiting to purchase gasoline)

reception line (a line of people (hosts and guests of honor) who welcome the guests at a reception party)

ticket line (a queue of people waiting to buy tickets)

unemployment line (a queue of people waiting for employment)

Derivation:

queue (form a queue, form a line, stand in line)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(information processing) an ordered list of tasks to be performed or messages to be transmitted

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("queue" is a kind of...):

list; listing (a database containing an ordered array of items (names or topics))

Domain category:

informatics; information processing; information science; IP (the sciences concerned with gathering, manipulating, storing, retrieving, and classifying recorded information)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "queue"):

push-down queue (a queue in which the last item to go in is the first item to come out (LIFO))

Sense 3

Meaning:

A braid of hair at the back of the head

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("queue" is a kind of...):

braid; plait; tress; twist (a hairdo formed by braiding or twisting the hair)

• QUEUE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they queue    ... he / she / it queues   
Past simple: queued   
Past participle: queued   
-ing form: queueing    / queuing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Form a queue, form a line, stand in line

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

line up; queue; queue up

Context example:

Customers lined up in front of the store

Hypernyms (to "queue" is one way to...):

stand; stand up (be standing; be upright)

"Queue" entails doing...:

wait (stay in one place and anticipate or expect something)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

queue (a line of people or vehicles waiting for something)

 Context examples 

One day the Prince hid his queue behind the collar of his coat, so Harewood cut his off, thinking that they were going out of fashion.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Already-queued orders won't leave idle capacity for some years, Maróth said, and paying back this loan seems realistic.

(Hungarian state-owned enterprise acquires Hirtenberger Defence Group, Wikinews)

Supermarket checkouts provide a unique location for prompting purchases as all customers have to pass through them to pay and may spend considerable time in queues; however, the majority of food at supermarket checkouts could be considered unhealthy.

(Removing sweets and crisps from supermarket checkouts linked to dramatic fall in unhealthy snack purchases, University of Cambridge)

The rules of the service insured that every face should be clean-shaven, every head powdered, and every neck covered by the little queue of natural hair tied with a black silk ribbon.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)