queen

• queene, quene, queyne (obsolete)

From Middle English quene, queen, cwen, from Old English cwēn (“queen”), from Proto-Germanic *kwēniz (“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”), Icelandic kvon (“wife”), Gothic 𐌵𐌴𐌽𐍃 (qēns, “wife”), Norwegian dialectal kvån (“wife”). Related to Old English cwene (“woman; female serf, quean”), see quean.

• IPA^(key): /kwiːn/, [kʷwiːn], enPR: kwēn

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• Rhymes: -iːn
• Homophone: quean

queen (plural queens)

1. A female monarch. Example: Queen Victoria.
2. The wife or widow of a king.
3. (chess) The most powerful piece, able to move any number of spaces horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
4. (card games) A playing card with the letter "Q" and the image of a queen on it, the twelfth card in a given suit.
5. A red disk that is the most valuable piece in the Asian game of carom.
6. A powerful or forceful female person.
7. (LGBT, slang, often derogatory) An effeminate male homosexual. (See usage notes.)
   • (Can we date this quote?), Bebe Scarpi, quoted in 2007, Stephan Cohen, The Gay Liberation Youth Movement in New York →ISBN, page 196:

     Despite one's opinion of Sylvia I can attest to the purity of her intent and dedication, and, no one will dare deny she is one gutsy queen.

8. A reproductive female animal in a hive, such as an ant, bee, termite or wasp.
9. An adult female cat valued for breeding. See also tom.
10. A queen olive.
    • 1984, United States International Trade Commission, Bottled green olives from Spain (page A-24)

      Prices for the two main types of Spanish style green olives - manzanillas and queens - vary according to the size of the crop of each. In some years queens will be more expensive than manzanillas […]

11. A monarch butterfly (Danaus spp.)

• (LGBT): The term can be either derogatory or a self-identification. (Compare nigger.)
• (LGBT): Some of the people who were historically (in the late 1960s and 1970s) described as "queens" or "drag queens" or "street queens" are now sometimes considered transgender, especially when their gender identity is female or non-binary/genderqueer rather than male. Some people, like Sylvia Rivera, self-identified as both a "transgender person" and a "street queen". Drag queens, too, can have any gender identity.

• (female monarch): queen regnant
• (wife of a king): queen consort
• (LGBT): See Thesaurus:male homosexual
• (playing card): bitch, cowgirl, girl, lady, mop squeezer

• Sikaiana: kuini

queen (third-person singular simple present queens, present participle queening, simple past and past participle queened)

1. To make a queen.
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To act the part of a queen; to queen it.
   • c. 1610–1611, Shakespeare, William, The Winter's Tale, Act 4, Scene 4:

     This dream of mine— / Being now awake, I'll queen it no inch farther, / But milk my ewes, and weep.

3. (chess) To promote a pawn, usually to a queen.
4. (beekeeping) To provide with a new queen.
   • 1896, The Progressive Bee-keeper, page 320:

     In queening his apiary, he aims to keep about half of the queens of the current season's rearing, and the other of the summer preceding.

   • 1967, ‎Everett Franklin Phillips, Are bees reflex machines?:

     If such a queen is immediately allowed to run through the entrance of a queenless colony, the queening is usually successful.

   • 1980, Robert E. Donovan, Hunting wild bees:

     Once you have introduced the queen, the first three steps of the capture have been completed, namely: blocking the tree, providing an alternate home, and queening the colony.

   • 2007, NPCS Board of Consultants & Engineers, The Complete Book on Beekeeping and Honey Processing, →ISBN, page 389:

     Sealed cells with about to emerge queens are used for queening the divisions.

5. (beekeeping) To be the queen of a colony.
   • 1882, American Bee Journal - Volume 18, page 743:

     They have all been queened by imported stock, or the best of home—bred mothers.

   • 1957, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (India), The Wealth of India, page 263:

     The nucleus should not be queened by a queen from any of the parent colonies.

6. (BDSM, slang, transitive, of a female) To sit on the face of (a partner) to receive oral sex.
   • 2000, "Lorelei", The Mistress Manual: The Good Girl's Guide to Female Dominance

     Try Queening him. Have him lie on his back while you sit on his face (make sure he has an airway through either his mouth or his nose).

   • 2007, Madelynne Ellis, Dark Designs

     ...not Eloise, sat queening him. He couldn't wait to tip her velvet. He wanted to come, but not here, with these three. It was time to extract himself.

   • 2012, Yolanda Celbridge, The Castle of Maldona

     She saw his pink tongue flickering on Clare's exposed nympha as she queened him, her love juices shining on his chin and throat […]

• queen out

• ♕, ♛

queen

1. Alternative form of quene (“queen”)