queen

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   something personified as a woman who is considered the best or most important of her kind

   Paris is the queen of cities

2. 2
   verb

   become a queen

   Their pawn queened on their next move .

3. 3
   noun

   The wife, consort, or widow of a king.

   The divorced king was looking for a new queen.

4. 4
   noun

   A female monarch.

   But our mercifull Queene Elizabeth hath not burned the popiſh prieſtes on the alters where they committed idolatrie in ſaying of Maſſe, and worſhipped a piece of breade for the bodie of Chriſte (which ſhee might haue done if ſhee would) and yet you count not her for a godly and mercifull Queene.

5. 5
   noun

   A woman whose pre-eminence, power, or forcefulness is comparable to that of a queen.

   […] and yet I will not ſay but amongſt duſt there is Pearle found, and in hard rockes Dyamonds of great value, and ſo amongſt many women there are ſome good, as that gracious and glorious Queene of all woman kinde the Virgin Mary the mother of al bliſſe, what wun her honour, but an humble minde and her paines and loue vnto our Sauiour Chriſt.

6. 6
   noun

   Something regarded as the greatest of its kind or as having pre-eminence or power comparable to that of a queen over a given area.

   Thare saw I May, of myrthfull monethis quene.

7. 7
   noun

   Referring to one of several items used in tabletop games:

   For this cauſe that when he [the pawn] can procede so well in warre, as to arriue at the laſte rancke of hys enemies, he is choſen and made the beſt piece of the playe, to wit, he is the Quene.

8. 8
   noun

   A reproductive female insect in a hive, such as an ant, bee, termite or wasp.

   Each time a worker shakes the queen, she grasps the queen with her forelegs and shakes her own body for a second or so, delivering 10 to 20 vigorous shakings of the queen […]

Etymology

From Middle English quene, queen, cwen, from Old English cwēn (“queen”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwāni, from Proto-Germanic *kwēniz (“wife, woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷénh₂s (“woman”). Cognate with Scots queen, wheen (“queen”), Old Saxon quān ("wife"; > Middle Low German quene (“elderly woman”)), Dutch kween (“woman past child-bearing age”), Swedish kvinna (“woman”), Norwegian kvinne (“woman”), Danish kvinde (“woman”), Icelandic kvon (“wife”), Gothic 𐌵𐌴𐌽𐍃 (qēns, “wife”), Norwegian dialectal kvån (“wife”). Related to and possibly merged with and/or absorbed some senses of English que…