queen, n.
View as:
Forms:
α. OE coen (Northumbrian, rare), OE cuoen (Northumbrian), OE cwæn, OE cwenn (rare), OE cwoen (Anglian), OE kquen (rare), OE–eME cuen, OE–eME cwen, OE (rare)–15 quen, eME cuwene (perh. transmission error), eME cwean, eME cweane, eME cwein, eME cwene, eME kwene, ME kuen, ME kuene, ME queyn, ME queyne, ME quuen, ME quyene, ME qween, ME qweene, ME qwenne, ME qweyn, ME qweyne, ME–15 quiene, ME–15 quyne, ME–15 qvene, ME–15 qwen, ME–15 qwene, ME–15 qwyn, ME–16 queene, ME–16 quene, ME– queen, 15 quenne, 15 quewne, 15 quyn, 15 qwuen, 15 qwyen, 15 qwyne, 18 quane (Irish English), 18– quean (Eng. regional (Cornwall), in sense 10b), 18– qwean (Eng. regional (Cornwall), in sense 10b); Sc. pre-17 quean, pre-17 queene, pre-17 quein, pre-17 queine, pre-17 quen, pre-17 quene, pre-17 quenn- (inflected form), pre-17 queyn, pre-17 queyne, pre-17 quin, pre-17 quine, pre-17 quyn, pre-17 quyne, pre-17 qween, pre-17 qwein, pre-17 qwen, pre-17 qwene, pre-17 qwene, pre-17 qweyn, pre-17 qweyne, pre-17 qwin, pre-17 wene, pre-17 17– queen.
β. ME whene (north-west midl. and north.), lME qwhene (chiefly north-west midl. and north.), lME wheene (north.), 16 wheen (Eng. regional (north.)); Sc. pre-17 quhein, pre-17 quhen, pre-17 quhene, pre-17 quheyn, pre-17 quheyne, 18– wheen (Shetland).
Also with capital initial.(Show Less)
Etymology: Cognate with Old Saxon quān wife, Old Icelandic kván wife, (in poetry) queen (also as kvæn ), Gothic qens woman < an ablaut variant (lengthened grade) of the Indo-European base of quean n.; compare Sanskrit jāni wife.
In Old English a strong feminine, the reflex of the genitive singular of which (Old English cwēne ) occas. survives into early Middle English (compare quene in quot. c1325 at sense 2), although levelling of the genitive singular in -es is found as early as the first half of the 12th cent. (compare quot. lOE2 at sense 2).
With sense 6a compare heaven queen n. and parallels cited at that entry; compare also post-classical Latin regina (6th cent. in this sense), Old French reine (12th cent. in this sense: see rennet n.2), Old High German kuningin the Virgin Mary, lit. ‘queen’ (Middle High German küniginne , German Königin ).
With sense 6e perhaps compare quean n.
With sense 7b(a) compare post-classical Latin regina coeli the moon (Vulgate).
With sense 8a compare Middle French royne , variant of reine (1347 in this sense), post-classical Latin regina (14th cent. in this sense in the Latin version of the same source), Middle High German küniginne (13th cent. in this sense). Compare earlier fers n.
With sense 8b compare Middle French royne , variant of reine (c1514 in this sense).
In sense 13 perhaps originally a variant of quean n. (see sense 3 at that entry), by association with this word, although compare the earlier quot. 1893 at sense 13.
I. Senses referring to a woman.
†1. A woman, esp. a noblewoman; a wife, esp. of an important man. Obs. rare.Even in Old English, cwēn is not the usual term for ‘woman’ or ‘wife’; it is used in this sense only in poetry.
OE Riddle 80 3 Cwen mec hwilum hwitloccedu hond on legeð, eorles dohtor, þeah hio æþelu sy.
OE Genesis A (1931) 2261 Ða wearð unbliðe Abrahames cwen.
OE Exodus 512 Egyptum wearð..deop lean gesceod, forðam þæs heriges ham eft ne com..ænig to lafe, þætte sið heoro [read heora] secgan moste,..hordwearda hryre, hæleða cwenum.
c1275 (▸?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 519 He sculde beon anhongen..buten heo..ȝeue heom al his aȝte..& his dohter Ignogen heore duc to quene.
c1275 (▸?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 12333 Alle þa quene [c1300 Otho cweanes] þe icumen weoren þere. and alle þa lafdies leoneden ȝeond walles.
OE—c1275(Hide quotations)
2. The wife or consort of a king. Freq. with the, as a title.
eOE (Mercian) Vespasian Psalter (1965) xliv. 11 (10) Adstitit regina a dextris tuis, in uestitu deaurato circumamicta uarietate : ætstod cwoen to swiðran ðire in gegerelan bigyldum ymbswapen misenlicnisse.
OE tr. Orosius Hist. (Tiber.) i. ii. 22 Æfter his deaðe Sameramis his cwen [L. uxor] fengc..to þæm rice.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) anno 1048 Þa forlet se cyng þa hlæfdian seo wæs gehalgod him to cwene.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1123 Ða hwile þet se ærcebiscop wæs ut of lande, geaf se kyng ðone biscoprice of Baðe þes cwenes canceler, Godefreið wæs gehaten.
?a1160 Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1140 Þa com þe kinges cuen m[id a]l hire strengthe & besæt heom.
c1275 (▸?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) 22 Ælienor, þe wes Henries quene.
c1300 (▸c1250) Floris & Blauncheflur (Cambr.) 264 (MED), Ne bu his wif neure so schene, Bute o ȝer ne schal heo beon his Quene.
c1300 Holy Cross (Laud) 41 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 2 Bi-fore þe quyene huy come.
c1325 (▸c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 608 Þe quene fader, corineus, was ded.
▸a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1874) V. 443 (MED), Þe quene, his wyf, bare hym fyve sones.
c1400 (▸?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) 2492 (MED), Þe kyng kyssez þe knyȝt, & þe whene alce.
c1450 Mandeville's Trav. (Coventry) (1973) 728 (MED), Of alle this londe thou sholdist bene Lorde and kinge, and I thi quene.
▸a1470 Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll.) 1197, I was sente unto my lady, youre quyne, I wote nat for what cause.
1505 F. Marsin et al. Rep. Ferdinand of Arragon (modernized text) in J. Gairdner Historia Regis Henrici Septimi (1858) 248 Hit was saied that bothe the Kynge and the Quyn wold come by the see.
1505 F. Marsin et al. Rep. Ferdinand of Arragon (modernized text) in J. Gairdner Historia Regis Henrici Septimi (1858) 249 In the liffe of the quyne.
c1540 (▸?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 3163 Menelai wife..The grettist of grese and a gai qwhene.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry V f. lxvv, He made greate purueighance of all thynges necessary for the coronacion of his Quene.
1562 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1888) I. 32 Dew obedience..to kingis, quenis, princes, and prelatis.
1600 Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream ii. i. 19 The king doth keepe his Reuels here to night. Take heede the Queene come not within his sight.
a1616 Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iii. ii. 12 Hermione, Queene to the worthy Leontes, King of Sicilia.
c1650 J. Spalding Memorialls Trubles Scotl. & Eng. (1851) II. 86 He, with his Quene..wes bankettit.., and thairefter propynit with 20,000 lib. sterling in ane fair coup of gold.
1750 J. Mayhew Disc. Submission 49 His queen was extremely bigotted to all the follies and superstitions, and to the hierarchy of Rome.
1779 Johnson Cowley in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets I. 11 He..was employed..in ciphering and deciphering the letters that passed between the king and queen.
1816 D. P. Campbell Poems (new ed.) 9 My heart, my realms, are all thine own; Their empress thou shalt reign! Thy queen! base tyrant! know this heart Will sooner ev'ry torture bear!
1859 Tennyson Elaine 1215 in Idylls of King As Arthur's Queen I move and rule.
1875 W. McIlwraith Guide Wigtownshire 54 James III granted to his Queen the whole Lordship of Galloway.
1911 G. M. Trevelyan Garibaldi & Making of Italy vii. 165 On the same evening the last of the Bourbons and his queen were leaving the Palace of Naples by the water-gate and taking ship for Gaeta.
1978 A. S. Byatt Virgin in Garden Prol. 11 A portrait of the late King, his Queen, and two princesses in vermilion lipstick, drooping skirts and sling-back shoes.
2000 A. Ghosh Glass Palace (2001) xvi. 204 A garage to accommodate the two cars that had recently been provided for the King and Queen.
eOE—2000(Hide quotations)
3.
a. A female ruler of an independent state, people, etc., esp. one who inherits the position by right of birth; a female sovereign. Freq. with the, as a title.
eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) i. x. 30 Hi mon hæt on Crecisc Amazasanas [read Amazanas], þæt is on Englisc fortende. Heora twa wæron heora cwena, Marsepia & Lampida wæron hatene.
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xl. 339 Sum cwen wæs on ðam dagum on suðdæle, Saba gehaten.
c1275 (▸?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 1871 Hit was swuþe mouchel scome & ec swiþe muchel grame þat scholde a quene [c1300 Otho cwene] beon king in þisse londe.
a1375 William of Palerne (1867) 2662 Þanne þat comliche quen curteyseliche seide, ‘lordinges, ȝe ben my lege men, [etc.]’.
a1425 (▸a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) l. 4461 (MED), A qwene..haldes þam in.
a1500 (▸?c1425) Speculum Sacerdotale 174 (MED), And that tyme there was in Spayne a queene namyd Lupie after it.
a1500 Sidrak & Bokkus (Lansd.) (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Washington) (1965) l. 3578 (MED), Ouere hem þei haue a quene Þat kepeþ hem as quene shulde do And holdeþ hem in pees and rest also.
1565 Act 8 Eliz. c. 11 §1 The Disfurniture of Service to be done to the Queen's Majesty.
1592 Expos. Terms Law 196 b, Warren is a place priuiledged by prescription or graunt of the Queene for the preseruation of hares, conies, partriges and feasantes or anie of them.
1603 King James VI & I in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1824) 1st Ser. III. 65 To do that and all other honnor that we may unto the Queene defunct.
1675 Connecticut Rec. II. 403 They say the Indyans are scattered; the two sachems Suikquens, Nononanto, & ye Queene beeing neere ye Nipmug Country.
1679 W. Howell Medulla Hist. Angl. 396 That the Queen to have put the lady Elizabeth besides the Crown, would have mothered another bodies Child; but King Philip scorn'd to Father it.
1710 Swift Let. 19 Oct. (1768) IV. 62 My memorial which was given to the queen.
1713 R. Steele Englishman No. 54. 344 Sir Francis Walsingham was..high in the Queen's Favour.
1781 Gibbon Decline & Fall II. xxv. 542 The proud conqueror..led away captive an unfortunate queen; who..had been the destined bride of the son of Constantine.
1838 Office Coronation Queen Victoria in W. Maskell Monumenta Ritualia Ecclesiae Anglicanae (1882) III. 115 Then the Orb with the Cross is brought from the Altar by the Dean of Westminster, and delivered into the Queen's Right Hand by the Archbishop.
1896 R. Kipling Seven Seas 49 We've drunk to the Queen... We've drunk to our mothers' land.
1901 Q. Rev. Apr. 325 The Queen had an extreme respect for tenue in all its forms.
1919 Outing Mar. 312/2 In 1540 the Spanish explorer, De Soto, came to an Indian town on the lower Savannah that was governed by a woman chief or ‘queen’.
1960 Guardian 14 Oct. 12/5 Natalians are subjects of the Queen.
2005 Daily Tel. 15 Nov. 18/5 Rabuka staged the first of his two coups, resulting in the Queen's removal as head of state and Fiji being expelled from the Commonwealth.
eOE—2005(Hide quotations)
b. Queen and country: a female sovereign and her people, considered together as objects of patriotic allegiance.
1572 Treat. Treasons against Q. Elizabeth ii. f. 96, These now being the profites and frutes that your Queene and Countrey haue reaped and gathered of this Tree of mutation.
1603 T. Bell Anat. Popish Tyrannie sig. B4, They tell vs they will take part with our Queene and countrie, against the Pope and king of Spaine.
1653 J. Ford Queen i. sig. B2, Now the sword of Law Must cut the vein that swell'd with such a frensy Of dangerous blood against your Queen and Country.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Devon 261 Cock was the onely man of note of the English, who fighting a Volanteer in his own ship, lost his life to save his Queen and Countrey.
1706 G. Farquhar Recruiting Officer v. vi. 72, I endeavour by the Example of this worthy Gentleman to serve my Queen and Country at home.
1791 J. West Edmund Ironside i. iv, in Misc. Poems 145 As oft I grasp'd his arm And begg'd him for his Queen and Country's sake To deign to live.
1861 C. M. Yonge Young Step-mother xxix. 443 His son got his death fighting for his queen and his country.
1881 D. M. M. Craik Children's Poetry 32 But am I not grandfather's sword to get, And fight for my queen and country yet?
1900 Times 2 Apr. 7/1 It was a keen joy..to be allowed to fight for his Queen and country.
1966 J. Gardner Amber Nine i. 28 Anyway, got to go. Queen-and-Country as my lovable boss would say.
2001 Navy News Sept. 6/5 Any man or woman who has had to face the real possibility of dying for Queen and Country..should be entitled to due recognition from those he is employed to defend.
1572—2001(Hide quotations)
c. Law. Freq. with the. The prosecution acting on behalf of a reigning queen in criminal proceedings. Cf. Regina n.
[a1689 W. Watson Clergy-man's Law (1701) iii. 9 He may qualifie Chaplains..to hold two Benefices with Cure..as if he was of full Age, Pasch. 44 Eliz. the Queen v. Bishop of Salisbury, &c.]
1713 Mod. Cases I. 97 Vide last Term, Queen versus Chafey.
1793 J. Hullock Law of Costs vi. i. §392 In the case of the Queen v. Collins..a motion was made for costs for not going on to trial.
1838 Times 12 Jan. 7/4 The Queen against the Justices of the Borough of Chichester, in the county of Sussex.
1915 E. C. Stowell Diplomacy War 1914 (1916) ix. 452 Extracts from this remarkable case, Queen v. Dudley and Stephens, will be found among the Documents.
2002 N.Z. Herald (Nexis) 18 Dec. The proposed law would also overturn a 1999 Appeal Court ruling (the Queen versus Aranui).
1713—2002(Hide quotations)
d. Brit. With the and capital initial: the national anthem as addressed to a female sovereign; ‘God save the Queen’. Now somewhat formal.
1898 J. D. Brayshaw Slum Silhouettes 37 The curtain fell at last, and the band struck up the ‘Queen’.
1916 M. Diver Desmond's Daughter iv. iv. 341 They're playing ‘The Queen’. I must be on the spot to say good-bye to people.
1965 ‘W. Haggard’ Powder Barrel ix. 86 The police band..crashed into The Queen in time in a formal way.
1970 Daily Tel. 18 Aug. 13/7 Wherever the Prince was present at a function organised by the association three anthems were played—the Queen, ‘Land of My Fathers’ and ‘God Bless the Prince of Wales’.
1898—1970(Hide quotations)
4. Used as a title placed immediately before (and in Old English also immediately after) the personal name of a female sovereign or the consort of a king. Also with the (now arch. and rare).
eOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Parker) anno 888 Ęþelswiþ cuen, sio wæs Ęlfredes sweostor cyninges, forþferde.
eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) i. x. 30 Þær wearð Marsepia sio cwen ofslagen.
OE Homily: Invention of Cross (Auct. F.4.32) in M.-C. Bodden Old Eng. Finding of True Cross 85 Þa bebead seo cwen Elena þæt hine man name & sette on ænne diopne seað buton æte & buton wæte.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) anno 1100 Se cyng genam Mahalde him to wife, Malcolmes cynges dohter of Scotlande & Margareta þære goda cwæne.
c1225 (▸?c1200) St. Katherine (Bodl. 34) (1981) 571 (MED), Þe cwen Auguste longede forte seo þis meiden.
▸c1385 Chaucer Knight's Tale 868 Theseus..wedded the queene Ypolita.
c1400 (▸?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) 74 Whene Guenore ful gay, grayþed in þe myddes.
▸a1470 Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll.) 510 Sir Gawayne knew the damesell, that she was longynge to quyne Morgan le Fay.
c1470 tr. R. D'Argenteuil's French Bible (Cleveland) (1977) 50 (MED), Thei wer delyuered out by the mekenes of the good quene Hester..whom weddid a Sarazine prince.
1511 Pylgrymage Richarde Guylforde (Pynson) f. ijv, Lasheles where lyeth Quene Elyanour of Englonde.
1572 Memorial in Buccleuch MSS (Hist. MSS Comm.) (1899) I. 23 Young Quein Marie.
1600 E. Blount tr. G. F. di Conestaggio Hist. Uniting Portugall to Castill 238 At which time Queen Anne his wife fell sicke of a rotten feuer.
1660 J. Howell Θηρολογια 2 Queen Morphandra..useth to make Nature her self not only succumbent and passive to her desires, but [etc.].
1712 Polit. Ball. (1860) II. 121 You for your bonfires mawkins dress'd On good Queen Bess's day.
1782 ‘J. H. St. J. de Crèvecœur’ Lett. from Amer. Farmer 177, I knew that he had been honoured with that [correspondence] of Queen Ulrica of Sweden.
1847 Wordsworth Ode Install. Prince Albert (ad fin.), The pride of the islands, Victoria the Queen.
1894 Daily News 4 Jan. 4/7 Some huge pile of building, generally much more Queen Anne-ish than the houses of Queen Anne's own time.
1931 Catholic Gaz. Feb. 71/2 The story—old, even apocryphal, it may be, but certainly typical and pointful—of Queen Victoria.
1990 Daily Tel. 4 Aug. (Colour Suppl.) 14 He dresses Sally Aga Khan, Queen Noor of Jordan, Elizabeth Taylor, Mrs Reagan, the Duchess of Marlborough, Vivien Duffield and a beaded clutch of veiled Arab princesses.
eOE—1990(Hide quotations)
5.
a. With specification of the people, country, etc., ruled over by a queen or by the king to whom she is consort, as Queen of Scots, Queen of France, etc.
OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Matt. xii. 42 Regina austri surget in iudicio cum generatione ista : cuen suðdæles arises uel aras in dom mið cneorisso ðas uel ðys.
?a1160 Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1140 Te cuen of France todælde fra þe king, & scæ com to þe iunge eorl Henri, & he toc hire to wiue.
c1275 (▸?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) 2281 He þohte to habben Delgan to quene of Dene-marke.
c1300 St. Kenelm (Harl.) 201 in F. J. Furnivall Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 53 Quendride, his liþere soster..aboute heo wende..Forto seisi al þe lond & þe maners echon, And makede hir quene of al þe March.
a1325 (▸c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 296 Hu mait ben Adam ben king and eue quuen Of alle ðe ðinge in werlde ben?
c1390 Chaucer Man of Law's Tale 161, I..wolde she were of al Europe the queene.
a1425 (▸a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 4463 Þe qwene [v.r. wheene] of Amazons.
c1447 Queen Margaret To King in R. Willis & J. W. Clark Archit. Hist. Univ. Cambr. (1886) I. Introd. p. lxiii (MED), In the whiche Vniuersite is no collage founded by eny Quene of Englond hidertoward.
a1500 Generides (Trin. Cambr.) 17 His doughter quene of Inde.
1562 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1888) I. 2 The maist excellent and gracius Souerane, Marie Quene of Scottis.
1586 J. Ferne Blazon of Gentrie 221 Tomyris, Queene of Scythia.
a1616 Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) iii. vi. 11 He..made her Of lower Syria, Cyprus, Lydia, absolute Queene.
1677 T. Gale Court of Gentiles: Pt. III iii. 139 Zenobia Queen of Arabia and Dame of Antioch.
1712 Pope Rape of Locke i, in Misc. Poems 359 This speaks the Glory of the British Queen.
1804 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. III. 243 Her majesty, or her successors, kings or queens of the realm.
1904 W. H. Wilkins (title) Queen of Tears: Caroline Matilda Queen of Denmark and Norway and Princess of Great Britain and Ireland.
1994 Guardian 7 Feb. ii. 4/4 The Queen of Sheba went to pay homage to King Solomon accompanied by a dazzling entourage and piles of pressies.
OE—1994(Hide quotations)
b. Queen of Spain n. (in full Queen of Spain fritillary) a migratory fritillary butterfly, Issoria lathonia, widely distributed in mainland Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia.
1775 M. Harris Eng. Lepidoptera 3 Fritillaria, Queen of Spain... Orange brown spotted with black.
1829 Young Lady's Bk. 169 The wings of Argynnis Lathonia (Queen of Spain Fritillary) are indented, yellowish, with black spots and thirty-seven silvery spots underneath.
1866 R. D. Blackmore Cradock Nowell xxx, If by the ‘Queen of Spain’ you mean that common brown little butterfly.
1906 R. South Butterflies Brit. Isles 91 The Queen of Spain Fritillary... This butterfly is not unlike a small example of the Silver-washed Fritillary.
1989 R. F. Bretherton in A. M. Emmet & J. Heath Moths & Butterflies of Great Brit. & Ireland VII. i. 224/2 It is not heard of again until Harris..included it in The Aurelian's Pocket Companion as the Queen of Spain Fritillary but without giving any explanation for the name.
1775—1989(Hide quotations)
6. Applied to a female whose authority or pre-eminence is comparable to that of a queen.
a. The Virgin Mary. Freq. in Queen of glory, Queen of grace, Queen of heaven, etc.
OE Crist I 276 Eala þu mæra [perh. read mære] middangeardes seo clæneste cwen ofer eorþan þara þe gewurde to widan feore.
OE Blickling Homilies 105 Þa ealra fæmnena cwen cende þone soþan scyppend.
lOE tr. R. d'Escures Sermo in Festis Sancte Marie Virginis in R. D.-N. Warner Early Eng. Homilies (1917) 138 Eala hwu mycel swotnysse wæs mid þære eadige cwen, þa þa se Halge Gast on hire becom.
c1200 Serm. in Eng. & Germanic Stud. (1961) 7 63 Ure drictin ure ikunde nam in þe heuenliche quen.
c1250 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 25 (MED), Of alle þou berest þat pris, heie quen in parais.
c1325 in K. Böddeker Altengl. Dichtungen (1878) 201 (MED), Iesu, þe quene þat by þe stod, of loue teres heo weop a flod.
a1375 William of Palerne (1867) 1741 (MED), Bi marie, sire..þe milde quen of heuene.
?a1430 T. Hoccleve Mother of God 2 in Minor Poems (1892) i. 52 (MED), O blisful queene, of queenes Emperice!
c1480 (▸a1400) St. Alexis 26 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 442 Þat he in weding borne was of mary, þe quene of grace.
1488 (▸c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) i. l. 261 Quhen scho him saw scho thankit hewynnis queyn.
▸?a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) 84 Hale, qwene serene, hale, most amene.
1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall Hist. Indies vii. xxvii. 582 The favour which the Queene of glorie did to our men.
1736 W. Thompson Nativity iv. 2 The strawy bed Where Mary, queen of Heaven, in humbless lay.
1798 S. T. Coleridge Anc. Marinere v, in Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 26 To Mary-queen the praise be yeven.
1842 I. Taylor Anc. Christianity II. 169 Our Queen, though she be the queen of heaven as well as of earth..is still only a glorious creature.
1892 E. Lawless Grania II. viii. 151 Och, Mary Queen of Heaven, but that was a hubbuboo!
1990 Smithsonian Jan. 63/2 The empress Theodora, who stands in state on the wall of San Vitale wearing a jeweled crown that was to be the model for the crown of Mary, Queen of Heaven.
OE—1990(Hide quotations)
b. Any of the goddesses of ancient religions or mythologies. Freq. in queen of heaven, queen of love, queen of marriage, etc.
▸a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Jer. vii. 18 Þei make swete cakis to þe qween of heuene & sacrifien to alien godis.
a1450 (▸?c1421) Lydgate Siege Thebes (Arun.) 13 (MED), Flora, the noble myghty quene, The soyl hath clad in newe tendre grene.
c1450 (▸c1380) Chaucer House of Fame 1512 Proserpyne..quene ys of the derke pyne.
1508 W. Dunbar Goldyn Targe (Chepman & Myllar) in Poems (1998) 186 Thare saw I Nature and Venus, quene.
▸?a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) 164 Haill, princes Natur, haill, Venus, luvis quene.
1594 Shakespeare Venus & Adonis (new ed.) sig. Cij, Poor Queene of loue, in thine own law forlorne.
1609 Shakespeare Pericles vii. 28 By Iuno (that is Queene of mariage).
1645 Milton On Christ's Nativity: Hymn xxii, in Poems 10 Mooned Ashtaroth, Heav'ns Queen and Mother both.
1697 Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis viii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 461 Her Country Gods, the Monsters of the Sky, Great Neptune, Pallas, and Love's Queen, defy.
1718 Pope tr. Homer Iliad IV. xiv. 245 The Queen of Love..from her fragrant Breast the Zone unbrac'd.
1809 in Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1810) 13 328, O Venus, Queen of Drury Lane.
1818 Shelley Homer's Hymn to Venus 13 Diana, golden-shafted queen.
1878 T. Hardy Return of Native II. ii. vi. 17 When the disguised Queen of Love appeared before Aeneas a preternatural perfume accompanied her presence and betrayed her quality.
1952 J. Kirkup & J. Shaw tr. P. Christian Hist. Pract. Magic I. iv. 272 The rustic festivities which celebrated in times gone by the goddess Ceres queen of the corn and Bacchus the god of wine, her husband.
1990 D. Stein Casting Circle iv. 79 Ancient queen of wisdom, Hecate, Hecate, Old one come to us.
a1382—1990(Hide quotations)
c. A fine and honourable woman; a woman surpassing all others in rank or excellence. Chiefly used as a term of endearment and respect.
▸c1385 Chaucer Knight's Tale 2775 Allas, myn hertes queene, alas my wyf!
c1425 Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) i. 2703 (MED), My souereyn hertis quene..Hath her my trouþe.
a1500 (▸c1370) Chaucer Complaint to his Lady 54 This hevy lif I lede for your sake..My hertes lady, and hool my lyves quene!
1598 Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. iii. 38 O Queene of queenes, how farre doost thou excell, No thought can thinke.
1600 Shakespeare Merchant of Venice ii. i. 12, I would not change this hue, Except to steale your thoughts my gentle Queene.
1865 J. Ruskin Sesame & Lilies ii. 184 Queens you must always be; queens to your lovers; queens to your husbands and your sons.
1915 W. Cather Song of Lark i. xix. 149 Always look after that girl, doc. She's a queen!
1991 S. Cisneros Woman Hollering Creek 136 And now if I dissolve my tears in dissipation, know, my queen, only you are to blame. My fragile heart will never be the same.
c1385—1991(Hide quotations)
d. A woman pre-eminent in a given group, sphere, or activity; (also) a mock sovereign on a festive occasion.Queen of the May: see May n.2 Phrases 2, May Queen n. See also beauty queen n., Queen of the Bean n. at bean n. 6c.
1488 (▸c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) vii. l. 89 Till him descendyt thar a qweyne, Inlumyt lycht, schynand full brycht and scheyne.
c1540 (▸?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 1627 In the moneth of may mekill þai vsit With floures and fresshe bowes fecchyng of somer: Somur qwenes and qwaintans & oþer qwaint gaumes [perh. read gamnes] There foundyn was first & yet ben forthe haunted.
1586 in W. A. Craigie Maitland Quarto MS (1920) lxiii. 40 To haue past abone the zodiak As quein and goddes of the firmament.
1600 Shakespeare Merchant of Venice iii. ii. 169, I was the Lord of this fair mansion..Queene oer my selfe.
1609 Shakespeare Pericles vii. 15 Come Queene a th'feast, For (Daughter) so you are.
1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ ii. xii. 15 The Lady Elizabeth, which..is called..for her winning Princely comportment, the Queen of Hearts.
1726 J. Barker Lining of Patch-work Screen 174 Orinda seated on a Throne, as Queen of Female Writers, with a Golden Pen in her Hand for a Scepter.
1779 F. Burney Let. 15 June in Early Jrnls. & Lett. Fanny Burney (1994) 305 Miss Brown..proved the Queen of the Day. Miss Streatfield..is..much more really beautiful..but Fanny Brown is more showy, &..gay.
1816 Keats To my Brother George 87 Upon a morn in May..that lovely lass Who chosen is their queen.
a1822 Shelley Charles I ii, in Wks. (1870) II. 388 The Twelfth-night Queen of Hearts.
1830 Tennyson Isabel in Poems 7 Isabel,..The queen of marriage, a most perfect wife.
1847 C. Brontë Jane Eyre II. i. 14 Most of the younger ones—looked handsome; but Miss Ingram was certainly the queen.
1858 E. Bulwer-Lytton What will he do with It? i. xiv, Lady Selina Vipont was one of the queens of London.
1897 D. Pryde Queer Folk 182 She cut it and thus secured ‘the maiden’, and became ‘the Queen of the Harvest’.
1915 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Island xxxv. 273 Aunt Jamesina,..the queen of house-mothers.
1958 Spectator 22 Aug. 247/1 A robust, jolly-looking person, more like a hockey queen than a film star.
1962 E. Lucia Klondike Kate 9 Rare instances of chivalry and devotion were exhibited by the miners toward this frontier queen.
1989 C. R. Wilson & W. Ferris Encycl. Southern Culture 1531/2 Often called..‘Queen of the Blues’, [Bessie] Smith is probably the best of the recorded classic blues singers.
2006 Daily Tel. 13 Sept. 2/1 A promoter of poetry and long a queen of lifestyle television.
1488—2006(Hide quotations)
e. slang (orig. U.S.). An attractive woman; a girlfriend, a female partner.
1894 in E. R. Lamson Yale Wit & Humor 47 (caption) A Dead Easy Queen Caught His Eye.
1900 Dial. Notes 2 53 Queen,..an attractive girl.
1914 N.Y. Tribune 23 July 6/3 Know you the town is full of folks? Know you the shows are full of queens? That every mail is full of jokes Born of the nation's brightest beans?
1937 J. T. Farrell Fellow Countrymen 181 Wouldn't it be luck if a ritzy queen fell for him!
1955 P. Sillitoe Cloak without Dagger xiv. 128 Both gangs used hatchets, swords, and sharpened bicycle chains..and these were conveyed to the scenes of their battles by their ‘queens’.
1973 C. Himes Black on Black 196 My queen 'gan bouncin' out her twelve-dollar dress.
1975 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 11 June 3/7 Some Rastafarians have many ‘Queens’.
1999 C. C. Spencer When All Hell breaks Loose iv. 38 When I find my queen, we're having a whole tribe like our grandparents used to swing it back in the day.
1894—1999(Hide quotations)
II. Extended uses.
7. Of things.
b. That which in a particular sphere or area has pre-eminence or power comparable to that of a queen; spec. (a) the moon (see queen of the night n.): also queen of tides, heaven, etc. (chiefly poet.); (b) the pre-eminent or most admired city in a particular geographic region. See also Phrases 1.
a. Something regarded as supreme, esp. as the finest, most outstanding, or most beautiful, of its kind.
OE Vercelli Homilies (1992) iii. 74 Eahta synt heafodleahtras,.. vii irre, viii oferhygd, sio is cwen eallra yfla.
OE tr. Defensor Liber Scintillarum (1969) xvii. 166 Principalium uitiorum regina et mater superbia est : ealdorlicra leahtra cwen & modor ofermodignyss ys.
c1225 (▸?c1200) St. Margaret (Bodl.) 44 Meiðhad þe of alle mihtes is cwen.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 80 Þe kuen of uirtues, dame charite.
c1425 Myrour to Lewde Men & Wymmen (Harl.) (1981) 104 (MED), Pride is quene of all synnes and alle oþre synnes foloweþ hir as hir handmaydens.
1508 W. Dunbar Goldyn Targe (Chepman & Myllar) in Poems (1998) 186 Thare saw I May, of myrthfull monethis quene.
1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall Hist. Indies ii. vi. 93 This river (which in my opinion, deserves well the name of Empresse and Queene of all flouds).
1688 in J. Barker Poet. Recreations ii. 203 Hail, Queen of Plants, crown'd with a Diadem, Where every Jewel is a Vocal Gem.
a1720 J. Sheffield Wks. (1753) I. 6 Paris, the queen of cities.
1785 W. Cowper Task i. 728 Now..show this queen of cities [sc. London], that so fair May yet be foul; so witty, yet not wise.
1861 S. Thomson Wanderings among Wild Flowers (ed. 4) iii. 286 The ‘lady fern’..sometimes called the ‘Queen of Ferns’.
1886 E. Miller Textual Guide 75 The Peshito has been called ‘The Queen of Versions’.
1958 T. F. T. Plucknett Early Eng. Legal Lit. ii. 20 It was but natural, indeed, that the finest efforts of learning, and the earliest, should be devoted to the Queen of the Sciences—Theology.
1996 D. W. Brown Teach yourself Aromatherapy v. 71 This ‘queen’ of oils has a remarkable effect on disorders of the female reproductive system.
OE—1996(Hide quotations)
b. That which in a particular sphere or area has pre-eminence or power comparable to that of a queen; spec. (a) the moon (see queen of the night n.): also queen of tides, heaven, etc. (chiefly poet.); (b) the pre-eminent or most admired city in a particular geographic region. See also Phrases 1.
Often with connotations of beauty when used of a city (cf. sense 7a).
1554 D. Lindsay Dialog Experience & Courteour Prol. 153 Synthea, the hornit nychtis quene.
a1616 Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iv. iv. 146 Each your doing..Crownes what you are doing..That all your Actes, are Queenes.
1671 Milton Paradise Regain'd iv. 45 Great and glorious Rome, Queen of the Earth.
1734 M. Barber Poems 205 So Stars attend the beauteous Queen of Night; And faintly shine, nor emulate her Light.
1814 Byron Childe Harold: Cantos I & II (ed. 7) ii. lxxx. 109 The Queen of tides on high consenting shone.
1837 A. Alison Hist. Europe VI. xlviii. 495 The Emperor travelled..to Venice; he there admired the marble palaces, and varied scenery, and gorgeous architecture of the Queen of the Adriatic.
1851 San Francisco Picayune 19 Sept. 2/4 Some person, gifted with a sufficient amount of patience, may undertake to compile the history of San Francisco..the Queen of the Pacific.
1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 9 Destined..to become the Queen of the Mediterranean.
1928 Daily Express 11 Apr. 9/4 Venice,..the Queen of the Adriatic in its most trippery and least attractive garb.
1976 Amer. Hist. Rev. 81 732 One can question whether the Queen of the Bosphorus [sc. Byzantium] still enjoyed unchallenged commercial supremacy on the eve of the Fourth Crusade.
1977 H. Fast Immigrants i. 30 For almost nine weeks, the shattered city [sc. San Francisco], known not only as the ‘Queen of the Pacific’ but as the ‘queen of larceny’ as well, entered into a period of benign brotherhood.
2005 Herald Sun (Melbourne) (Nexis) 28 Dec. 80 The Queen of the Danube is fast becoming a fixture on the Euro tourist track.
1554—2005(Hide quotations)
8.
a. Chess. The most powerful chess piece belonging to each player, placed next to the king at the start of the game, and able to move in any direction along a rank, file, or diagonal on which it stands. Formerly also: †the position on the board attained by a pawn when it is queened (obs. rare). †to make a queen : to promote a pawn into a queen; cf. queen v. 2.
a. Chess. The most powerful chess piece belonging to each player, placed next to the king at the start of the game, and able to move in any direction along a rank, file, or diagonal on which it stands. Formerly also: †the position on the board attained by a pawn when it is queened (obs. rare). †to make a queen : to promote a pawn into a queen; cf. queen v. 2.
Now the strongest piece on the board, and capable of defending the king, the queen was originally the weakest, able to move only one square at a time; its power was greatly enhanced by a major revision of the rules in the 15th cent. The term fers (see fers n.) is now commonly used to distinguish the older piece, although fers and queen were formerly used interchangeably.
c1450 (▸?c1408) Lydgate Reson & Sensuallyte 172 (heading) (MED), The quene or the fers.
1474 Caxton tr. Game & Playe of Chesse (1883) ii. ii. 26 Thus ought the Quene [Fr. la royne, L. regina] be maad, she ought to be a fair lady sittynge in a chayer and crowned wyth a corone.
a1500 (▸?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (Harl. 7333) 71 The fifthe [piece] is þe quene, that goth fro blak to blak, or fro white to white, and is yset beside þe kyng.
1562 tr. Damiano da Odemira Pleasaunt Playe of Cheasts sig. A.viiv, When he [sc. the Paune] can..arriue at the laste rancke of hys enemies, he is chosen and made..the Quene.
a1649 W. Drummond Wks. (1711) 147 The Game ended, Kings, Queens, Bishops, Knights, Pawns pell-melled are confusedly thrown into the Box.
1689 Young Statesmen vi, in Coll. Poems against Popery 8/2 So have I seen a King on Chess..His Queen and Bishops in distress.
1761 E. Hoyle Ess. Game of Chess 51 The exact Number of Moves, before you can make a Queen.
1773 ‘A. D. Philidor’ Chess Analysed 13 The King's Pawn makes a Queen, and wins the Game.
1797 Encycl. Brit. IV. 640 He should take the adversary's pawns, and move the others to queen.
1822 W. Lewis Elem. Game Chess xliv. 149 If a Pawn be on a Rook's file it will go to Queen.
1848 H. R. Agnel Chess 63 You..queen your Pawn, and instead of claiming a Queen, you take a Knight.
1894 J. Mason Princ. Chess 77 Just as the foremost [Pawn] is but a square from Queen.
1922 V. Woolf Jacob's Room x. 187 He slowly brought it forward and raised the white queen from her square.
1992 Chess Monthly Sept. 9/2 Materially speaking Black is doing quite well with rook, bishop and knight for queen and pawn.
c1450—1992(Hide quotations)
b. Cards. The card in each suit bearing the representation of a queen, normally ranking next below the king and above the jack.
1575 W. Stevenson Gammer Gurtons Nedle ii. ii. sig. Biiii, There is 5 trumps beside the Queene.
1607 T. Heywood Woman Kilde with Kindnesse sig. E, This Queene I haue more then my owne..Giue me the stocke.
1651 Pleasant Hist. Miller of Mansfield 19 With Ladies and their Maids like to the Queene of Spades.
1714 Pope Rape of Lock (new ed.) iii. 24 The Knave of Diamonds..wins..the Queen of Hearts.
1791 Gentleman's Mag. Feb. 141 The Queen of Clubs is called in Northamptonshire, Queen Bess.
1816 S. W. Singer Researches Hist. Playing Cards 39 Like the Italians and Germans, they [sc. the Spaniards] have no Queen in the Pack.
1885 R. A. Proctor How to play Whist 5, I lead Ace, and follow with Queen of my best suit.
1933 E. Culbertson Contract Bridge Blue Bk. (ed. 2) i. iv. 60 Declarer's chances of dropping the outstanding Queen and Knave on the Ace and King leads are proportionately increased.
1991 Daily Tel. 5 Jan. (Weekend Suppl.) 15/8 He had a queen in the hole, which gave him top pair, but no kicker.
2006 Inside Edge June 80/3 He put all of his high cards on the left, so if he threw the third card from the left and it has a queen then you knew what the rest of them were.
1575—2006(Hide quotations)
9. The reproductive female caste in social bees, wasps, ants, and termites, larger than the ordinary workers; an individual of this caste, one (or more) of which are normally present in each colony. In later use also: the sole fertile female in certain other eusocial animal colonies.
1609 C. Butler Feminine Monarchie i. sig. A1, Of the nature and properties of Bees, and of their Queene.
1657 S. Purchas Theatre Flying-insects i. viii. 31 If therefore you perceive a hive..to work negligently, or not to increase in the Spring, suspect them to want a Queen, and supply them with one as soon as you can.
a1711 T. Ken Sion in Wks. (1721) IV. 352 The same Tune..In which the Bees..For their Dismission to their Queen entreat.
1724 Derham in Philos. Trans. 1722–3 (Royal Soc.) 33 54 The Male Wasps are lesser than the Queens.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VIII. 124 The working ants having..deposed their queens.
1847 Tennyson Princess i. 14 Around them both Sweet thoughts would swarm as bees about their queen.
1892 J. Lubbock Beauties of Nature ii. 60 The working Ants and Bees always turn their heads towards the Queen.
1934 J. A. Thomson & E. J. Holmyard Biol. for Everyman I. xiii. 269 The queen begins to be maternal, and, as she can lay three thousand eggs in a day, the population of the hive increases rapidly.
1974 A. Dillard Pilgrim at Tinker Creek x. 167, I have seen a film of a termite queen as big as my face, dead white and featureless,..throbbing and pulsing out rivers of globular eggs.
1996 Times 18 Apr. 11/1 Naked mole-rats—which are neither moles nor rats—dig out complex burrows where they establish colonies in which only the queen bears young.
1609—1996(Hide quotations)
10.
†a. A kind of flatfish; spec. the lemon sole, Microstomus kitt. Obs.
1671 J. Ray Let. 2 Mar. in J. Ray et al. Philos. Lett. (1718) 107 One they call a Lantern Fish, another they call a Queen.
1674 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Words 100 Queens: a Fish thinner than a Plaise.
[1746 tr. D. De Coetlogon Tour through Animal World 103 The Soal, call'd the Queen of the Sea, not for its Beauty, but for its Goodness.]
1884 St. James's Gaz. 18 Jan. 6/1 The..lemon-dab or queen.
1671—1884(Hide quotations)
b. orig. Brit. regional. The queen scallop, Aequipecten opercularis. Cf. queenfish n. 1, queenie n. 2, quin n.1, squin n.2
1803 G. Montagu Testacea Brit. I. 146 Pecten opercularis..in Devonshire and Cornwall is..known by the name of Frills or Queens.
1883 tr. N. Joly Man before Metals ii. i. 200 Several molluscs, especially oysters,..mussels, queens, whelks, and snails.
1901 E. Step Shell Life 84 The Quin or Queen..is more nearly circular in shape, thin and smooth.
1959 A. C. Hardy Open Sea II. vi. 143 The smaller and delicious ‘queens’..may occasionally be brought in by trawlers..in sufficient quantities to be marketed.
1971 Country Life 21 Oct. 1040/1 Last year nearly 5,000 tons of queens..were brought into Scottish ports.
2004 Aberdeen Press & Jrnl. (Nexis) 20 May 23 Pacific oysters, native oysters, scallops, queens and mussels are all farmed in Scotland.
1803—2004(Hide quotations)
11. Technical uses.
a. = queen apple n. at Compounds 2 (rare).
[1597 J. Gerard Herball iii. xcv. 1274/2 (caption) Malum reginale. The Quining,..Queene of Apples.]
1699 J. Evelyn Kalendarium Hortense (ed. 9) 166 Apples..: Queen, Marigold, Winter Queening, Leather-Coat, [etc.].
1836 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Plants (rev. ed.) 426 Apples are classed as pippins or seedlings,..rennets or queens, specked fruits.
1964 Times 13 May 16/6 One of these two taller trees was that superb September baking apple, the Queen.
1699—1964(Hide quotations)
b. One of the grades into which fuller's teasels were sorted. Usu. in pl. Cf. middling n.1 2c, scrub n.2 4. Now hist.
1813 T. Rudge Gen. View Agric. Glouc. 156 The produce of the second and subsequent cuttings are sorted, according to their size, into Queens, which are the best teazles; Middlings..and Scrubs.
1818 W. H. Marshall Rev. & Abstr. County Rep. to Board of Agric. II. 457 The central shoot of each plant called the ‘king’ is cut, the produce of the second and subsequent cuttings are sorted into ‘queens’, ‘middlings’, and ‘scrubs’.
1855 Househ. Words 20 Jan. 539/2 The different sizes [of teasle] are known by the names of kings, queens, middlings, and scrubs.
1952 Chambers's Jrnl. Aug. 456/2 At one time the crop was graded by some growers into kings, queens, middles, and buttons.
1813—1952(Hide quotations)
c. A large roofing-slate, measuring approximately three feet by two feet (approx. 0.91 by 0.61 m). Now chiefly hist.The queen was originally the largest size in a standard system developed at the Penrhyn quarry near Bethesda, Caernarvonshire (now in Gwynedd), in the 18th cent.; its exact size varied at different periods and between different quarries.
1819 P. Nicholson Archit. Dict. II. 622 Slaters class the Welsh slates in the following order: Doubles, Ladies,..Queens.
1893 J. Brown Opening Railway to Delabole xxiii, We've countess, duchess, queens and rags.
1946 N. Wymer Eng. Country Crafts x. 108 Generally, they will give their slates a certain ‘social dignity’ by naming them, according to size, from the ‘Queen’ for the largest down—by way of the ‘princess’,..to the ‘lady’ for the smallest.
?1996 P. Long Hidden Places Cornwall 292 Blasting and slicing the stone into attractively named standard sizes: ‘Ladies’, ‘Countesses’, ‘Duchesses’, ‘Queens’ and ‘Imperials’.
1819—?1996(Hide quotations)
†d. Building. Short for queen post n. Cf. king n. 11b. Obs.
1842 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 5 361/2 The blocks..being supported by the queens.
1858 Skyring's Builders' Prices (ed. 48) 18 Truss framed with king post... Ditto with king and queens.
1842—1858(Hide quotations)
e. attrib. orig. N. Amer. Designating a queen-sized bed or queen-sized bedding.
1955 Los Angeles Times 26 Dec. i. 23 (advt.) Full mattress-spring sets, 79.95... Queen mattress-spring sets, 149.50.
1959 N.Y. Times 10 Jan. 11/8 For ‘queen’ beds that are sixty inches wide, choose sheets ninety inches wide.
1999 E. Fowler Mariner's Compass (2000) 62, I bought a new set of queen sheets.
1955—1999(Hide quotations)
1898 Bishopsgate Cats in Ladies' Field 6 Aug. 378/1 A few outdoor houses for the queens are used.
1934 P. Wade Siamese Cat iv. 45 Not only should the queen herself be excellent, but her pedigree must be above suspicion.
1954 D. Hartley Food in Eng. 660 You cannot keep a cat on milk only... Nursing queens should be given water to drink and solid food.
1977 Proc. Royal Soc. Med. 70 3/1 Calcium deficiency also occurred in lactating queens and their young litters.
1999 L. A. Rebhun Heart is Unknown Country 244 Brazilian Portuguese distinguishes male from female animals in common usage:..a male gato (‘tom’) and a female gata (‘queen’).
1898—1999(Hide quotations)
13. slang. A male homosexual, typically one regarded as ostentatiously effeminate. Cf. quean n. 3.In quot. 1729, prob. a use of sense 3a or quean n. 1 (compare variant forms at that entry) in a homosexual context.
[1729 Hell upon Earth 43 Where have you been you saucy Queen? If I catch you Strouling and Caterwauling, I'll beat the Milk out of your Breasts I will so.
1893 Alienist & Neurologist 14 732 Standing or seated on a pedestal, but accessible to all the rest, is the naked queen (a male) whose phallic member..is subject to the gaze and osculations in turn, of all the members of this lecherous gang of sexual perverts.]
1919 in L. R. Murphy Perverts by Official Order (1988) iii. 57 Zipf described the ‘feminine’ attire found in Gianelli's room, reported his description of other ‘queens’, and passed on ‘Salome's’ description of having had sex with other men.
1929 M. Lief Hangover vi. 100 ‘What's those?’ ‘You know—all those queens.’
1930 E. Waugh Vile Bodies 61 ‘Now what may you want, my Italian queen?’ said Lottie as the waiter came in with a tray.
1938 N. Marsh Artists in Crime ix. 127 We met the chap that runs the place. One of those die-away queens.
1952 A. Wilson Hemlock & After i. v. 88 Anyone would think he was just another routine, harmless old queen.
1962 H. Kane Killer's Kiss xxvii. 207 Duffy was no queen, no platinum-dyed freak, no screaming faggot.
1971 F. Forsyth Day of Jackal xx. 333 He must be..how marvellous! A handsome young butch looking for an old queen to take him home.
1989 G. E. Klyve & C. G. Oakley Legend of Perseus ii. 61 If it got out that she preferred a screaming queen to her aristocratic spouse, he would never be able to look his friends in the face again.
2001 AXM Aug. 72/1 For the record, I'm not just gay—I'm a screaming queen!
1919—2001(Hide quotations)
14. Any of several Cunard passenger liners named after a British Queen.Originally and chiefly in pl., with reference to the ‘Queen Mary’ and the ‘Queen Elizabeth’.
1945 Times 23 June 2/4 The two Queens, together with the Aquitania and 370 other smaller vessels, will play their part in this tremendous task.
1949 P. Duff Brit. Ships & Shipping i. 28 The two Queens of the North Atlantic did invaluable service in every theatre of war.
1956 H. Grattidge Capt. of Queens 291 Both Queens had the same 118 foot breadth, but at 1,031 feet the Elizabeth eclipsed the Mary's length by ten clear feet.
1959 Daily Tel. 9 Apr. 1/4 Plans to replace the ‘Queens’ must be modern and far-reaching.
1968 O. Wynd Sumatra Seven Zero vi. 85 The first clang of metal sounded like a mid-Atlantic collision between the two Queens.
1970 W. G. Roberts Quest for Oil xi. 116 This may seem slow compared with the 30 knots of the ‘Queens’ or even with the 20 to 25 knots of the majority of other passenger liners.
1970 J. Walz & A. Walz Portrait of Canada 309 It rode with the aloofness of a Cunard Queen at anchor.
1987 Geogr. Rev. 77 315 ‘Getting there is half the fun’, promised the Cunard Line in the days of the Queens.
2006 Trav. Weekly (Nexis) 8 Sept. A first westbound tandem Atlantic crossing of two Queens—the new Queen Victoria on her first and QE2 on her 804th.
1945—2006(Hide quotations)
Phrases
P1. Phrasal combinations with of.
a. In names of plants (cf. sense 7).
queen of flowers n. (a) (chiefly poet.) a beautiful flower, esp. a rose; (b) either of two crape myrtles with showy purple or white flowers, Lagerstroemia indica, a large shrub, and L. speciosa, which is a tree (also called queen's-flower tree).
1647 C. Harvey Flowers of Heart in Schola Cordis 122 What say'st thou to that Rose, That queen of flowers, whose Maidenly blushes, fresh, and faire, Out-brave the dainty morning aire?
1796 P. Wakefield Introd. Bot. 100 The rose, so universally admired, as the queen of flowers, belongs to the fifth order.
1845 L. J. Peirson Boquet in Forest Leaves 236 The Rose is titled queen of flowers, And in her peerless wealth of bloom, She beautifies the summer bowers.
1901 Bull. Amer. Geogr. Soc. 33 212 Lagerstroemia flos reginæ..Queen of Flowers.
1902 Times 15 Feb. 4/2 The rose, which is the national emblem of England and the queen of flowers, may be worn in preference..at the time of his Majesty's Coronation.
1925 Sci. Surv. Porto Rico & Virgin Islands (N.Y. Acad. Sci.) VI. 21 Lagerstrœmia speciosa (L.) Pers., Queen of Flowers, East Indies, occasionally planted for ornament in Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands, is a tree.
1993 S. Carrington Wild Plants of Barbados 72 Lythraceae... A mainly tropical family including garden favourites such as the Queen-of-Flowers (Lagerstroemia indica) and various Cuphea spp.
1647—1993(Hide quotations)
queen of the meadow n. (also queen of the meadows) [compare post-classical Latin regina prati (from 14th cent. in British sources), Anglo-Norman reine de prie (14th cent.), French reine des prés (1655); compare also in this sense post-classical Latin regina , Anglo-Norman reine (see quot. a1300 at meadwort n. 1)] (a) meadowsweet, Filipendula ulmaria; (U.S. also) any of several plants of the related genus Spiraea; (b) U.S. joe-pye weed, Eupatorium purpureum.
1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 886 Called..in English..Medow sweete, and Queene of the medowes.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. vi. 97 Queen of the Meadows..: It is a winged and dented leaf, standing one above another, at distances, upon a reddish rib.
1785 Mem. Amer. Acad. I. 451 Spiræa foliis lanceolatis..subtus tomentosis... Queen of the Meadows. Blossoms red or purple. In moist pastures.
1892 Amer. Folk-Lore 5 98 Eupatorium purpureum..Queen of the meadow.
1945 Sci. Monthly July 65 Why the Joe Pye weed should have acquired the names it carries in different parts of its range, Skunk weed, Marsh Milkweed,..King- or Queen-of-the-Meadow, as its synonymy reveals, raises questions of European associations in folk botany.
1952 P. Mann Systematics Flowering Plants ii. 113 (in figure) [Filipendula]ulmaria = Meadow-sweet, Queen-of-the-Meadows.
1993 K. N. Sanecki Discovering Herbs (ed. 5) 71 Meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria (Rosaceae) Perennial Queen of the meadow, meadwort... Our ancestors knew this plant for its pain-dulling and cheering properties.
1597—1993(Hide quotations)
queen of the prairie n. (also †queen of the prairies) [probably after queen of the meadow n.] U.S. a plant of meadows and prairies, Filipendula rubra (family Rosaceae), related to meadowsweet but with deep pink flowers.
1852 H. R. Noll Bot. Class Bk. & Flora Pennsylvania 100 S[piræa] lobata, Murr. Queen of the Prairie.
1860 Amer. Agriculturist Dec. 365/2 Queen of the Prairies.—Larger than the preceeding, deep pink, very double, with occasionally a white stripe on the petals.
1968 R. T. Peterson & M. McKenny Field Guide Wildflowers Northeastern & North-central N. Amer. 284 Queen-of-the-prairie... Flowers deep pink.
1999 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald Amer. 28 Mar. 19/4 Queen of the prairie, Filipendula rubra..: It flowers in July with fluffy plumes that are cotton candy pink.
1852—1999(Hide quotations)
b.
queen of puddings n. a pudding typically made with breadcrumbs, milk, eggs, butter, and sugar, and topped with jam and meringue; cf. queen's pudding n. at Compounds 3b, queen pudding n. at Compounds 2.
1903 H. Campbell Easiest Way Housek. & Cooking 241 By using fresh bread-crumbs and four eggs, this becomes what is known as ‘Queen of Puddings’.
1917 M. Byron Pudding Bk. iii. 72 Queen of Puddings... Soak a pint of breadcrumbs in boiling milk, and the yolks of four eggs well beaten.
1963 M. Patten Puddings & Desserts (recipe no. 389) Queen of puddings.
1992 E. A. Proulx Postcards iii. xxxi. 180 Made Queen of Puddings for Sunday dinner with raspberries.
1903—1992(Hide quotations)
Queen of the Gypsies n. (also Queen of Gypsies) a woman of authority in a Romany community.
1690 Dryden Amphitryon v. 55 Phaedra, Queen of Gypsies.
1771 Ann. Reg. 1770 102 Died lately, at her hut at Norwood, Bridget, the Queen of the Gipseys.
1899 Morning Post 20 Apr. 8/7 If I had a solicitor I should be able to prove my title of Queen of the Gypsies of all the earth against Molly Friar, who at present holds the Throne.
1993 A. Morris North Webster 30 In the spring of 1935, the queen of the gypsies was married in a lavish ceremony in the Bottoms.
2010 W. Cobb (title) The last queen of the gypsies.
1690—2010(Hide quotations)
Queen of the West n. U.S. (now hist.) Cincinnati, Ohio; cf. Queen City n. at Compounds 2 and sense 7b.
1835 C. F. Hoffman Winter in West I. 130 It is in vain for thriving Pittsburg or flourishing Louisville..to dispute with Cincinnati her title of ‘Queen of the West’.
1840 Knickerbocker 16 157 In this way we glided in our broad-horn past Cincinnati, the ‘Queen of the West’ as she is now called.
2004 S. Reed Across Wide River 119 He certainly knew a lot about Cincinnati... ‘Shucks, I love it here in the Queen of the West.’
1835—2004(Hide quotations)
P2. orig. and chiefly U.S. to the (also a) queen's taste : to perfection; absolutely, completely.
1880 Washington Post 2 Mar. 1/4 Fifty or sixty men could hold a meeting, do the thing up to the Queen's taste and there would be no advertisement and no resolutions.
1891 Sporting Times (N.Y.) 19 Sept. 4/3 A number of young blood Leaguers are playing ball to the queen's taste.
1902 W. N. Harben Abner Daniel xxxiii. 279 You worked 'im to a queen's taste—as fine as spilt milk.
1911 R. D. Saunders Col. Todhunter ix. 126 It's the best and truest thing I ever saw in my life! They've got you finished off to the Queen's taste.
1935 F. Pratt Ordeal by Fire xxxi. 274 Bragg was gulled to the queen's taste.
1996 M. E. Dyson Between God & Gangsta Rap (1997) xvii. 131 An erudite man trained to speak the King's English to the Queen's taste.
1880—1996(Hide quotations)
Compounds
C1.
a. Appositive.
queen bride n.
1634 J. Ford Chron. Hist. Perkin Warbeck iii. sig. F, This new Queene Bride, must henceforth be no more My Daughter.
1829 J. H. Nichols Specimens Amer. Poetry 338 Trees, like crystal chandeliers, In nature's blue cathedral arch, Light by the moon their gems of tears, Where, like a queen bride, thou dost march.
1900 Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. 15 225 In Orendel the Queen Bride has to be rescued three times at least.
2005 Tulsa (Okla.) World (Nexis) 11 July d1 The musical focuses on the romantic triangle involving King Arthur, his queen bride Guenevere and the brash young knight Lancelot.
1634—2005(Hide quotations)
queen-galley n. now hist.
1700 Acct. Cruelties done to Protestants 12 Some of our Brethren, the Slaves on board the Queen Galley, were used after the same manner.
1888 T. Watts in Athenæum 18 Aug. 224/2 See how the four queen-galleys ride.
1906 T. Watts-Dunton Coming of Love 142 Now three queen-galleys pass Cape Finisterre.
1700—1906(Hide quotations)
queen moon n. poet.
1820 Keats Ode to Nightingale in Lamia & Other Poems 109 Haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne.
1914 H. Price Poems & Sonnets 65 When the queen moon within her silver ring Transmutes the golden flower of the dawn.
1972 G. Hartman in New Perspectives Coleridge & Wordsworth 123 Ben Jonson's masques, for instance, can be elaborate night-pieces converging on queen-moon or roi-soleil.
1820—1972(Hide quotations)
queen rose n.
1846 R. Browning Lett. 16 June (1899) II. 241 You must..add the queen-rose to his garland.
1893 Times 10 May 8/3 A silver-gilt flora medal for pots of pale Clio and rich crimson queen roses.
1962 Herald-Press (St. Joseph, Mich.) 23 July 4/3 The bridal bouquet was composed of a crescent of pink queen roses and white stephanotis.
1846—1962(Hide quotations)
queen-spirit n. rare
1835 W. Howitt Pantika I. 360 What we have here paid, is but a passing homage to the power which resides and is honoured here—the Queen-spirit of all flowers.
1942 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Instit. 72 25/2 While Homa Sarki pours out a libation of gumba and prays to Doguwa, the queen spirit of the river, for good luck, the fiddles play.
1835—1942(Hide quotations)
queen-spouse n. rare
1885 R. F. Burton tr. Arabian Nights' Entertainm. VIII. dccxcv. 56 The Lady Zubaydah, daughter of Al-Kasim and queen-spouse of the Commander of the Faithful Harun al-Rashid.
2002 Z. Sitchin Lost Bk. Enki xi. 252 His queen-spouse I shall be.
1885—2002(Hide quotations)
† queen-strumpet n. Obs. rare
1863 Atlantic Monthly Oct. 502 The queen-strumpet of modern history.
1863—1863(Hide quotations)
queen-woman n.
1852 M. E. Lazarus Love vs. Marriage xv. 177 The Saint Simonians invoked the queen woman, without whom their society could not pass from idea into organic fact.
1904 W. B. Yeats Stories of Red Hanrahan 20, I heard under a ragged hollow wood, A queen-woman dressed out in silver, cry.
1928 Times 28 Feb. 14/4 You are great for ever, and the countless throng love and honour you always and offer worship and good wishes to you—a great queen woman.
2000 L. Charnon-Deutsch Fictions of Feminine iii. 111 Subsequently novelists followed in Perez Galdos's footsteps in reducing the queen woman to the bodily by unmasking her sexual or material excesses.
1852—2000(Hide quotations)
b. Objective.
queen-killing n. and adj.
1599 M. Aray Discouerie Tragical Fiction f. 14v, Valentyn Tomson his matter of Queene-killing has preuented Squyres.
1606 True Relation Proc. at Arraignm. Late Traitors 105 That King-killing and Queen-killing was not indeed a doctrine of theirs.
1682 Concavum Cappo-cloacorum 41 Why, is not King-killing and Queen-killing all one?
1715 J. Dunton Ox— & Bull— 24 How seasonable the Publishing of this Sermon upon Queen-Killing will be, let all Loyal Subjects judge.
1780 Ride & Walk through Stourhead 6 Even those blissful Scenes before us owe To Alfred's Soul invincible their Bliss: Which else Queen-killing Danes had occupied, a Race uncultivated as their Clime.
1839 Times 8 Nov. 4/2 The Tories—the disloyal Tories—the treasonable Tories—the Queen-killing and Queen-dethroning Tories.
1922 Biol. Bull. 43 32 Further inquiry into the queen-killing habit of Ps. rupestris and vestalis.
1988 Evolution 42 572/2 Forsyth's..model for queen killing is extendable to queen turnover as well.
2006 Chattanooga (Tennessee) Times Free Press (Nexis) 3 June f2 Find the colony's anthill, then put out one of the new queen killing baits.
1599—2006(Hide quotations)
C2.
queen apple n. now hist. a class of apples characterized by early ripening and red flesh; an apple of this class; cf. Queening n.1, rennet n.2, reinette n.
1579 Spenser Shepheardes Cal. June 43 Tho would I seeke for Queene apples vnrype.
1626 Bacon Sylua Syluarum §511 Few Fruits are coloured Red within; The Queen-apple is.
1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry 537 The Queen Apple, those..of the Summer kind, are good Cyder Apples, mix'd with others.
1892 Times 13 Oct. 3/6 Messrs. Cheal and Sons..sent golden doyenne Bussoch.., red Worcester pearmain, and the Queen apples, ruddy Dartmouth, and transcendent crabs.
1936 H. V. Taylor Apples of Eng. iii. 33 The Queening or Quoining is first heard of in Tudor times. In later centuries the name was used for a whole group of apples with prominent angles or quoins, such as the Queen Apple illustrated by Gerarde.
1579—1936(Hide quotations)
Queen A.T. n. (also Queen At) Mil. slang (now disused) a Chief Commander of the (all female) A.T.S.
1943 J. L. Hunt & A. G. Pringle Service Slang 54 Queen At, a Chief Commander of the A[uxiliary] T[erritorial] S[ervice].
1947 N. Streatfeild Grass in Piccadilly 33 That queen A.T. of yours must have been a holy terror.
1943—1947(Hide quotations)
† queen-bird n. poet. Obs. a swan.
1830 M. R. Mitford Our Village IV. 286 Repeating..as we met the Queen-birds, ‘The swans on fair St. Mary's lake’.
a1834 C. Lamb Compl. Wks. (1935) 558 Queen-bird that sittest on thy shining nest, And thy young cygnets without sorrow hatchest.
1830—a1834(Hide quotations)
queen butterfly n. a large danaid butterfly, Danaus gilippus, native to the Americas, having chiefly reddish-brownish wings with black borders.
1941 Ann. Assoc. Amer. Geographers 31 67 The coastal marshes and islands comprise the most distinct faunistic region of the state. The familiar animals are..the Queen butterfly [etc.]
2003 Star-Telegr. (Texas) (Nexis) 10 May e 2 Milkweed serves as both a nectar source and a larval source for monarch and queen butterflies, two of the prettiest orange-and-black species.
1941—2003(Hide quotations)
queen cage n. Bee-keeping a small container for conveying or transferring a queen honeybee to a hive.
1853 L. L. Langstroth Hive & Honey-bee xi. 210, I adopt the German plan of confining the queen in what they call a queen-cage.
1954 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 142 524 A queen cage from which a queen had just been removed caused queenless bees to fan.
2004 Backwoods Home Mag. July–Aug. 21/1 Gently wedge the queen cage between the top bars of the frames.
1853—2004(Hide quotations)
queen cake n. a small currant-cake, typically heart-shaped.
1734 J. Middleton & H. Howard 500 New Receipts 202 (heading) Fine Queen-Cakes.
1768 Chelmsford & Colchester Chron. 8 Aug. in C. Morsley News from Eng. Countryside (1979) 61 Some hungry villains, who..regaled themselves with pigeon-pye, twelve queen-cakes, and several bottles of liquor.
1840 F. Trollope Widow Married I. xii. 319 When I've done eating this one queen-cake more.
1894 W. B. Yeats Land of Heart's Desire 32, I will have queen cakes when you come to me!
1977 Radio Times 12 Mar. 16/4 They added a domestic touch by selling their own home produce, little queen cakes and jam.
1990 M. Binchy Circle of Friends (1995) i. 1 She greased the trays for the queen cakes with a scrap of butter paper.
1734—1990(Hide quotations)
queen cat n. a female cat capable of or used for breeding; cf. sense 12.
1674 J. Ray N. Countrey Words in Coll. Eng. Words 53 A Wheen-Cat: a Queen-Cat.
1893 J. Jennings Domest. or Fancy Cats iv. 31 At what age should the queen cat breed?
1960 Amer. Speech 35 300 Has this name [sc. queen] arisen from the often-observed imperious bearing of queen cats?
1968 Times 1 Feb. 12/8 With hair on end like a ruffled queen cat.
1674—1968(Hide quotations)
queen cell n. Bee-keeping a hollow wax structure in the nest of a honeybee colony (usually one of several on the edge of a comb), in which a larva is raised as a sexual female and potential new queen.
1792 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 82 166 A queen cell, which is made while the bees are shut up, is formed by breaking down three common cells into one.
1843 Zoologist 1 158, I had the satisfaction of seeing that one queen-cell had been commenced.
1934 J. A. Thomson & E. J. Holmyard Biol. for Everyman I. xiii. 269 Queen-cells are started and equipped so that there will be a choice of new queens to replace the old one.
1992 H. R. C. Riches Handbk. Beekeeping vi. 61 Sometimes a colony will start queen cells and then for some reason will abandon the impulse to swarm and destroy the cells.
1792—1992(Hide quotations)
Queen City n. chiefly U.S. the pre-eminent or most admired city (of a particular region) (cf. Queen of the West n. at Phrases 1b).
1807 B. Lambert tr. C. Villers Ess. Spirit & Infl. Reformation 150 If Athens, if Delphos, if Corinth, Pisa, Lacedemon, Mytilene, Smyrna, had not enjoyed this peculiar individuality, and if one queen-city had attracted to itself all the glory of Greece, would so many great men and great virtues have blazed forth in every part of it?
1819 Village Rec. (Westchester, Penn.) 8 Dec. 4 Pittsburg! what with thy steam works, thy glass-works, thy salt-works, and thy numberless manufactories, thou mayest surely be called Queen city of the west.
1838 B. Drake (title) Tales and sketches from the Queen City [sc. Cincinnati].
1879 W. Whitman Specimen Days (1882) 147 So much for my feeling toward the Queen City of the plains and peaks [sc. Denver].
1880 Harper's Mag. Dec. 70 Local prejudice..and proverbial procrastination..unite to keep ‘Chinatown’ practically a sealed book to the better-class denizens of the Queen City of the Pacific [sc. San Francisco].
1943 Colorado Mag. Jan. 15 The Queen City of the Plains [sc. Denver] started in 1878.
1979 M. G. Eberhart Bayou Road v. 47 How could the Yankees have injured..New Orleans, the Queen City, so completely.
2005 A. J. Singer (title) Stepping out in Cincinnati: Queen City entertainment 1900–1960.
1807—2005(Hide quotations)
queen closer n. Building a quarter of a brick used to close the end of a wall or course of brickwork; cf. closer n.2 3, king-closer n. at king n. Compounds 2a.
1826 J. Gwilt Rudim. Archit. ii. 77 It is necessary to interpose a quarter brick..called a queen closer.
1944 E. Lucas in R. Greenhalgh Pract. Builder ii. 54/1 Double Flemish Bond consists of alternate stretcher and header in each course... At stopped ends and square corners a queen closer is placed next the quoin header, as in English bond.
1990 Pract. Householder Apr. 38/3 With other bonds, queen closers or three quarter bats have to be incorporated to maintain the bonding on each face of the wall.
1826—1990(Hide quotations)
queen conch n. the spiral shell of a large marine gastropod mollusc, Strombus gigas (family Strombidae), found in the Caribbean, bearing spines and a widely flaring lip; (also) the mollusc itself; cf. queen's conch n. at Compounds 3b.
1808 Sketches of Character I. viii. 163 That Queen Conc wants only colouring to persuade us it is a real one.
1885 A. Brassey In Trades 303 Some years ago the queen-conch (a shell with a delicate pink lining) was in great demand.
1960 H. S. Zim Guide to Everglades 45 Queen conch is not only beautiful but the animal is excellent eating. Try conch chowder, a typical dish of the Florida Keys.
1990 Skin Diver Mar. 84/3 Along the sand channel large horse and queen conch can be found.
1808—1990(Hide quotations)
Queen Consort n. [compare post-classical Latin regina consors (1280 in a British source)] the wife of a king; = sense 2; cf. Prince Consort at prince n. 7.
1665 W. Killigrew Three Playes (title-page), Three playes written by Sir William Killigrew, Vice-Chamberlain to Her Majesty the Queen Consort.
1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. i. iv. 212 The queen of England is either queen regent, queen consort, or queen dowager.
1818 Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian xii, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. III. 299 Since Margaret of Anjou, no queen-consort had exercised such weight in the political affairs of England.
1917 Mod. Lang. Notes 32 339 It was..made..a part of the dower rights of the queen consort.
2005 Daily Tel. 11 Feb. 4/5 Historically, the wife of the King automatically becomes Queen, although the formal title is Queen Consort.
1665—2005(Hide quotations)
queencraft n. rare after 18th cent. the art of ruling as a queen; statecraft as practised by a queen; cf. king-craft n., statecraft n.
1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. ix. 54 Elizabeth shewing much Queen-Craft, in procuring the votes of the Nobility.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Kent 67 She [sc. Elizabeth I] was well skilled in the Queen-craft.
1713 ‘Philanax Episcopius’ Antidotum Sarisburiense 14 Q. Elizabeth..who had the true Spirit of Queen Craft.
1784 T. Tyers Conversat. Polit. & Familiar xviii. 159 And I was fit for the times I lived in; for they required much simulation and dissimulation, and a great deal of queen-craft.
1982 M. Z. Bradley Mists of Avalon iv. v. 708, I cannot imagine how you have dwelt in Uriens' kingdom as his queen so long, and not learned more of queencraft.
1655—1982(Hide quotations)
queen cup n. a woodland plant of western North America, Clintonia uniflora (family Liliaceae), bearing a solitary white cuplike flower.
1915 M. Armstrong & J. J. Thornber Field Bk. Western Wild Flowers 50 Queen-cup, White Clintonia. Clintonia uniflora. In rich moist soil, in shady woods, we find this lovely flower, with a white chalice and heart of pure gold.
1930 Nature Mag. Mar. 156/1 Gaillardias line the open trails, which, when they turn to wind among deeper woods, disclose twinflowers and white queen-cups.
1973 Islander (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 6 May 2/1 Valley forests were alight with..queen cup [etc.].
1915—1973(Hide quotations)
Queen Dowager n. the widow of a king (freq. as a title).
1556 in Cal. State Papers Scotl. (1898) I. 197 At a parliament at Edinburgh. Mary the Queen Dowager demanded a perpetual yearly tax.
1622 Bacon Hist. Raigne Henry VII 6 To remaine with the Queene Dowager her Mother.
1727 D. Defoe Syst. Magick i. ii. 43 The Queen Dowager was with Child, and would bring forth a Prince.
1846 J. H. Ingraham Bonfield xi. 75 ‘Not a word, cousin!’ said the king severely... ‘This doubt I will remove at once by application to the Queen dowager, my honored mother.’
1955 Econ. Hist. Rev. 8 47 The Queen Dowager was received at Stowe in August 1840.
2002 Times 10 Apr. 7/3 The Garter King of Arms..stepped to the coffin..and solemnly declaimed the full styles and titles of ‘the late Most High, Most Mighty and Most Excellent Princess Elizabeth, Queen Mother and Queen Dowager.’
1556—2002(Hide quotations)
† queen dowrier n. Sc. Obs. = Queen Dowager n.
1548–9 in 12th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1890) App. viii. 94 Princess Marie, be the grace of God Quene Dowriar of Scotland.
1555 Sc. Acts Mary (1597) §28 In presence of the Queenis Grace, Marie, Queene Dowrier [1566 Dowariar], and Regent of Scotland.
1656 in J. A. Clyde Hope's Major Practicks (1938) II. 24 Quein dowrier.
1548–9—1656(Hide quotations)
queen-elect n. a woman chosen, elected, or expected to become queen.
1588 W. Elderton Lament. Follie (single sheet), Let vs pray for our defence, our worthy Queene elect.
1597 W. Warner Albions Eng. ix. xliiii. 213 That vnto thee, his Queene-elect, no Issue letting was.
1728 Mem. Eng. Officer 315 That Princess, pursuant to the Orders she had received from the King, pass'd over into Italy to accompany the Queen Elect into her own Dominions.
1866 W. S. Gilbert Ruy Blas (front matter), Maria. Queen-elect of Spain.
1953 T. S. R. Boase Eng. Art vii. 190 The queen-elect later departed with a dowry of gold and silver plate.
2005 Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) (Nexis) 26 June 4 h, This year's coterie includes queen-elect Zaine Blanche Kasem.
1588—2005(Hide quotations)
queen excluder n. Bee-keeping a metal screen with holes large enough for worker honeybees to pass through but too small to allow the passage of the queen, used to exclude the queen from certain sections of the hive.
[1881 T. W. Cowan Brit. Bee-keeper's Guide Bk. vii. 33 One of the features of this hive is the possibility of preventing swarming, by confining the queen..by placing a zinc excluder..near the front of the hive.]
1881 T. W. Cowan Brit. Bee-keeper's Guide Bk. vii. 134/1 Queen-excluder.
1930 W. Herrod-Hempsall Bee-keeping I. ix. 447 The first queen excluder, made from wood, was invented and used in Scotland in 1849.
1998 Harper's Mag. Sept. 58/1 A fine metal grid called a ‘queen excluder’ is often laid on top of the second box to prevent the queen from climbing up into the supers..and filling them with eggs.
1881—1998(Hide quotations)
† queen-features n. poet. Obs. (with reference to a woman's face) queenly features.
1871 J. Hay Pike County Ballads 113 The still queen-features glorious In the dawn of love's first gleams.
1871—1871(Hide quotations)
queen-flower n. = queen of flowers n. at Phrases 1a.
1869 T. T. Lynch Flora & Flowers in Memorials Theophilus Trinal (ed. 3) 194 And on thy open bosom would rest, Most blest, The queen-flower, Rose.
1909 Westm. Gaz. 17 Aug. 4/1 There were vegetables, fruit bushes and fruit trees, all in vigorous health, there were flowers, and the queen-flower in her glory.
1940 E. J. H. Corner Wayside Trees of Malaya I. 430 L[agerstrœmia]_flos-reginæ... Rose of India, Crêpe Flower, Queen Flower.
1997 D. J. Mabberley Plant-bk. (ed. 2) 388 Lagerstroemia L. Lythraceae... L. speciosa (L.) Pers. (L. flos-reginae, pride-of-India, queen-flower, pyinma, India & China to Aus.).
1869—1997(Hide quotations)
queen-gold n. now hist. = queen's gold n. at Compounds 3b.
1383 Rolls of Parl. III. 164/2 Prient les Communes..que nule somme que l'empell Quene-gold ferroit leve de null q'ad garde ou mariage du Grant notre Seigneur le Roy.
1679 T. Blount Fragmenta Antiquitatis 36 Queen-gold is a Royal duty of Ten in the Hundred.
1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. 221 The queen..is intitled to an antient perquisite called queen-gold or aurum reginae.
1875 W. Stubbs Constit. Hist. II. xv. 218 (note) , In 1255 the citizens refused to pay queen-gold.
1995 J. C. Parsons in J. Carpenter & S.-B. MacLean Power of Weak vi. 164 John may have had the exchequer collect queen-gold in Isabella's name.
1383—1995(Hide quotations)
queen lily n. †(a) (chiefly poet.) a lily (obs.); (b) any of the Central and South American bulbous plants constituting the genus Phaedranassa (family Amaryllidaceae), often grown as ornamentals for their umbels of funnel-shaped pink or crimson flowers.
1742 E. Young Complaint: Night the Third 12 Queen Lilies! and ye painted Populace! Who dwell in Fields, and lead ambrosial lives.
1786 J. West Misc. Poetry 9 Boast not, queen lily, thy attire of snow; Nor thou, vermillion rose.
1855 Tennyson Maud xxi. ix, in Maud & Other Poems 71 In gloss of satin and glimmer of pearls, Queen lily and rose in one.
1887 G. Nicholson Illustr. Dict. Gardening III. 89/1 Phædranassa (from phaidros, gay, and anassa, a queen; alluding to the beauty of the flowers). Queen Lily... Ord. Amaryllideæ.
1902 T. W. Sanders Encycl. Gardening (ed. 5) 284 Phædranassa (Queen Lily)... Warm & cool greenhouse flowering bulbous plants.
2004 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 25 Apr. 14/1 Lachenalias are fast compared with the queen lily, Phaedranassa dubia, which takes a full year of daily watering before bothering to germinate.
1742—2004(Hide quotations)
Queen Mum n. colloq. (an affectionate name for) Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (1900–2002), consort of King George VI of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and mother of Queen Elizabeth II.
1954 N.Y. Daily News 29 Oct. 13/1 We'd say..that Queen Mum is strictly okay, but that she has been trapped by a bunch of stuffed shirts who don't know the first thing about good public relations for royalty on a goodwill tour of a republic.
1960 L. R. Banks L-shaped Room ix. 135, I kept it a treat. I could've had the Queen Mum to tea there and not been ashamed.
1974 J. Gardner Corner Men xiii. 185 What do you think I do all day..? Play canasta with the Queen Mum and help feed the royal corgis?
1993 Q Jan. 7/4, I like the Queen Mum, me.
2003 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Oct. 292/2 The Queen Mum celebrated her 85th birthday by strapping herself into the cockpit's jump seat and watching the pilots throttle that baby past Mach One.
1954—2003(Hide quotations)
queen olive n. a large oblong Spanish olive with an elongated stone.
1866 Whig & Courier (Bangor, Maine) 4 May 2/5 (advt.) Pure and Strong Spices, Queen Olives, Fresh Citron, [etc.].
1942 H. W. von Loesecke Outl. Food Technol. 85 The ‘Queen Olive’..came from Spain, although hybrids are being planted in California.
1974 Observer 8 Sept. (Colour Suppl.) 66/3 The country around Seville in Spain is green olive country, both for the manzanillas and the huge queen olives.
1866—1974(Hide quotations)
† queen pigeon n. Obs. rare—0 the Victoria crowned pigeon, Goura victoria; cf. queen's pigeon n. at Compounds 3b.
1890 Webster's Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. at Queen, Queen pigeon, any one of several species of very large and handsome crested ground pigeons of the genus Goura.
1890—1890(Hide quotations)
queen-pin n. colloq. a woman who is essential to the success of a group, organization, or operation; cf. king-pin n. 2.
1907 J. K. Bangs in Wit & Humor of Amer. V. 2020 She was so strong-minded that..in the last year of her single blessedness she was the Queen-pin among the girls of her set.
1941 P. Reniers Springs of Virginia xv. 251 Lovable Mrs. Thomas Carter, the queen-pin, who had mothered so many of the beaux at Pampatike, her husband's school.
1972 Daily Tel. 21 Jan. 13/1 Welcome to Elaine May..not just as a voice but as the queen-pin—director, author and actress.
1992 D. Lessing Afr. Laughter 354 Cathie whose energy incandesces not only her, but everyone else, is the queen-pin of the Team, one of the world's natural organizers.
1907—1992(Hide quotations)
queen pine n. now rare a cultivated variety of pineapple (cf. king-pine n. (a) at king n. Compounds 2c).
1638 T. Verney Let. in F. P. Verney Mem. I. vi. 149 The last and best fruit is your pine-apple, and there are two sorts—a Queen pine, and another.
1766 Compl. Farmer at Pine-apple, There are two sorts of the ananas principally cultivated in England; one called the queen-pine, the other the Montserrat.
1855 P. Neill et al. Pract. Gardener's Compan. (rev. ed.) 342 The Queen Pine is very generally cultivated. Its fruit is of a cylindrical or tankard shape..and sometimes weighs three pounds.
1933 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 8 June 12/7 The Queen pine has a decidely strong aroma and taste, but is full sized and more roundly shaped than any of the others.
1638—1933(Hide quotations)
queen pudding n. = queen of puddings n. at Phrases 1b; cf. queen's pudding n. at Compounds 3b.In quot. 1839 the exact nature of the dish referred to is uncertain.
1839 F. Marryat Diary in Amer.: Pt. 2nd I. iv. 108 Queen Pudding.
1889 J. Whitehead Steward's Handbk. iv. 353/1 Jelly pudding, a bread custard or corn-starch custard baked, spread over with jelly, and meringued; same as queen pudding and Oswego pudding.
1971 Jean Bowring Cookbook 227 Queen pudding. [Recipe follows].
2006 Hobart (Austral.) Mercury (Nexis) 30 Aug. 29 The Queen pudding is baked custard made special by its golden meringue topping and a layer of jam.
1839—2006(Hide quotations)
† Queen-Rectrix n. Obs. = Queen Regnant n.
1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 195 Which filthy sinne was since corrected by a Queene Rectrix.
1650 J. Bulwer Anthropometamorphosis 198 A late Queen-Rectrix.
1634—1650(Hide quotations)
Queen-Regent n. (a) a queen who acts as a regent, esp. (in continental Europe) the mother of the king or queen acting as regent during his or her minority; †(b) = Queen Regnant n. (obs.).
a1572 J. Knox Hist. Reformation Scotl. in Wks. (1846) I. 293 To bring this head to pass..the quein regent left no point of the compas unsailled.
1618 S. Daniel Coll. Hist. Eng. 129 The Queen Regent had erected the Country of Poictou to a Conty, and made Earle there of Alphonso her Sonne.
1671 T. Shadwell Humorists iii. 38 Ah, my Queen Regent, I salute the hem of your Garment.
1761 Acct. Ceremonies Coronation George III & Queen Charlotte 10/1 That Princess [sc. Mary II] being Queen Regent as well as Queen Consort.
1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. i. iv. 212 The queen of England is either queen regent, queen consort, or queen dowager.
1835 H. W. Herbert Brothers II. xxiii. 225 The youthful monarch—or, to speak more properly, the queen-regent, and her powerful minister, triumphant in his brief success—was holding his first court since their return from St. Germains.
1927 H. Peake & H. J. Fleure Priests & Kings 52 Azag-Bau is said to have acted as queen-regent during the twenty-five years that Gimil-Sin ruled in Kish.
1998 Coin News June 51/1 Under the ultra-pious Queen-Regent there had been an enormous increase in the number of religious orders.
a1572—1998(Hide quotations)
Queen Regnant n. a reigning queen; = sense 3.
1651 Life & Reigne King Charls 111 Restlesse in her ambitious contrivements to dispossesse the Queen Regnant of the Crowne.
1733 T. Salmon Mod. Hist. XIX. xxxii. 378 This being the first Queen Regnant that had set upon the Throne of England since the Conquest.
1818 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. (ed. 2) IV. 144 Neither the king, nor a queen regnant, can convey in this manner, nor can a corporation.
1839 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 513/2 The husband of a queen regnant, as Prince George of Denmark was to Queen Anne, is her subject.
1921 L. Strachey Queen Victoria iii. 86 Subsequent constitutional practice has determined that a Queen Regnant must accede to the wishes of her Prime Minister as to the personnel of the female part of her Household.
2006 Western Mail (Cardiff) (Nexis) 10 June 25 There is no official position within the monarchy for the husband of a Queen Regnant.
1651—2006(Hide quotations)
queen scallop n. a small edible scallop, Aequipecten (formerly Chlamys) opercularis (family Pectinidae), found off the coasts of western Europe and the Mediterranean; cf. sense 10b.
1955 Jrnl. Animal Ecol. 24 498 Investigations into the growth, breeding and ecology of the queen scallop, Chlamys opercularis.
1959 A. C. Hardy Open Sea II. vi. 143 (caption) The queen scallop..showing the swimming action.
1993 Independent on Sunday (Nexis) 24 Oct. 69, I started with queen scallops—the little round ones—14 of them, still attached to their flat, frilly undershells, very lightly grilled with garlic and butter.
1955—1993(Hide quotations)
queen-size adj. (usually of a commercial product, esp. a bed) of a size larger than standard, often the next size down from king-size in a series of sizes; cf. king-size adj. at king n. Compounds 2a.
1906 Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) 10 Mar. 20/2 (advt.) , 50 boxes ‘Queen’ size, cloth finish paper and envelopes, in cream wove.
1931 Edwardsville (Illinois) Intelligencer 13 Mar. 10/2 (advt.) Hav-a-Tampa Cigars..Queen Size..10c straight.
1959 Punch 28 Oct. 371/1 A motel in Los Angeles advertises Queen-size beds.
1967 Boston Sunday Herald 30 Apr. (Bedding Suppl.) 1/5 Queen size is the answer if a king-size bed doesn't fit your plans... Its 60-by-80-inch innerspring mattress is six inches wider and five inches longer than the old double size.
1979 Arizona Daily Star 5 Aug. (Advt. section) 8/8 It is beautifully designed, complete with queen-size bed.
1990 Good Housek. May 155/2, I saw them..pawing through the queen-size housecoats in JC Penney.
1906—1990(Hide quotations)
queen-sized adj. = queen-size adj.; cf. king-sized at king n. Compounds 2a.in quot. 1946 with reference to a woman taking queen-size clothing.
1946 Mansfield (Ohio) News Jrnl. 4 Nov. 7/2 Her price line is conveniently lowered by her junior size, but even a queen-sized aspirant could make do on slightly more.
1955 Sun (Baltimore) 19 Mar. 9/4 Mrs Daniel J. Flood, wife of a Democratic Congressman from Pennsylvania, is introducing a new fad here—‘queen-sized’ colored cigarettes to match her costume.
1975 A. Bergman Hollywood & Le Vine (1976) ix. 123 A queen-sized mattress.
1992 B. Geist Little League Confid. Introd. 8 Your oversized baseball pants are billowing in the spring breeze like queen-sized sheets hung out to dry.
1946—1992(Hide quotations)
queen snake n. a harmless aquatic colubrid snake of central and eastern North America, Regina (formerly Natrix) septemvittata, which has a mainly brown body with a yellowish stripe along each side.
1898 Landmark (Statesville, NC) 18 Nov. 2/7 The brown queen snake.
1958 R. Conant Field Guide Reptiles & Amphibians U.S. 123 Queen snake has 4 brown stripes down belly, and yellow side stripe is on scale rows 1 and 2.
1987 Catesbeiana 7 19 (title) New county records for the queen snake Regina septemvittata in the central piedmont of Virginia.
1898—1987(Hide quotations)
queen staysail n. Naut. a triangular maintopmast staysail in a schooner yacht.The sail was app. first designed by Capt. Nat Herreshoff (1848–1938) for his 1906 racing schooner ‘Queen’ (see quot. 1948).
1922 N.Y. Times 3 Aug. 10/8 Vagrant carried what is known as a queen staysail.
1933 Portsmouth (New Hampsh.) Herald 23 June 1/2 Going slightly northeast with a southeast wind the ‘skipper’ employed the queen staysail, which gave him a little more canvas.
1948 L. F. Herreshoff in Rudder Aug. 58 Because previous staysails had to be lowered away in tacking, when my father designed the schooner Queen he did away with the triatic stay and in its place ran a stay called a ‘fresh water stay’ between the topmast heads. This staysail with which a schooner can tack is called a ‘Queen staysail’, as it was first used on the schooner Queen.
1994 E. Marino Sailmaker's Apprentice (2001) iii. 89 The queen staysail..is a tremendous reaching sail of light construction set from the mainmast head.
1922—1994(Hide quotations)
queen stitch n. Embroidery an elaborate stitch forming a diamond shape.
1631 J. Taylor Needles Excellency sig. A4, Bred-stitch, Fisher-stitch, Irish-stitch, and Queene-stitch.
c1840 Lady Wilton Art of Needlework xx. 317 There are tambour-stitch, satin—chain—and queen-stitches.
1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. Saward Dict. Needlework 192 Queen Stitch.—Also known as Double Square. [Description follows.]
1911 Newport (Rhode Island) Mercury 20 May (Electronic ed.) Freelove Easton..proposes to teach reading, sewing, marking, irish stitch, queen stitch and knitting.
1996 Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.) (Nexis) 11 Sept. 2 A program to learn the basic cross stitch, the queen stitch and the Algerian eye stitch, will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Francis Land House.
1631—1996(Hide quotations)
queen substance n. Entomol. a mixture of pheromones produced by a queen honeybee, which inhibits the development of the worker bees' ovaries and prevents them from constructing queen cells and rearing new queens; any of the pheromones constituting this mixture.
1954 C. G. Butler in Trans. Royal Entomol. Soc. 105 14 It is necessary for the bees to have physical contact with their queen in order to obtain this ‘queen substance’.
1972 Sci. Amer. Sept. 56/3 The ‘queen substances’ are outstanding in the complexity and pervasiveness of their role in social organization.
1992 H. R. C. Riches Handbk. Beekeeping ii. 16 [The queen's] other important function is to produce pheromones from her mandibular glands, called ‘Queen substances’, which the workers lick from her body and distribute amongst themselves.
1954—1992(Hide quotations)
queen-suit n. Cards a set of cards belonging to the same suit and headed by the queen.
1744 E. Hoyle Piquet 9 The younger-hand is generally to carry Guards to his Queen-suits.
1927 M. C. Work Bridge Pointers & Tests 81 The Dummy play is little better than a guess, as the leader may have opened an Ace-suit or a Queen-suit.
1946 Times 23 Jan. 6/3 If the opener has a choice of two five-card suits, one headed by the ace and the other by the queen, the lead of the queen suit is recommended.
1744—1946(Hide quotations)
queen triggerfish n. a deep-bodied, blue and yellow triggerfish, Balistes vetula, found mainly in the tropical West Atlantic and Caribbean; also called old wife.
1906 Englewood (Illinois) Times 15 June 2/4 The combination of wonderful blues and greens, purples, pale yellows and luscious rose tints are calculated to put a Queen Trigger fish to shame.
1924 J. T. Nichols in J. O. La Gorce Bk. Fishes 166/2 The gaudy colors of the Queen Trigger-fish..are an exception among such forms.
1986 Lethaia 19 339 Remains of jawed polychaetes were recovered from stomach contents of queen triggerfish (Balistes vetula L.).
1906—1986(Hide quotations)
queen truss n. Building a truss supported by queen posts; cf. king-truss n. at king n. Compounds 2a.
1840 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 3 39/1 The roof is in one span, with a queen truss open to the straining piece.
1923 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 15 May 5/1 It was proposed in this connection that Harris County undertake the repairs to the queen truss and the cost be divided equally.
1989 Daily Herald (Chicago) 9 Nov. e5 The modified queen truss style bridge with upward posts is made from Douglas fir and will replicate the type of bridge prevalent at the turn-of-the-century.
1840—1989(Hide quotations)
queen wasp n. the single reproductive female in a colony of social wasps; cf. sense 9 and queen bee n.; cf. also king-wasp n. at king n. Compounds 2a.Newly mated queen wasps hibernate through the winter and found a new colony in the spring.
1724 Philos. Trans. 1722–3 (Royal Soc.) 33 59 The Queen-Wasps..were weak, and did not buz long.
1827 E. Bevan Honey-bee 187 The queen-wasps were unusually numerous in the spring of that year.
1934 J. A. Thomson & E. J. Holmyard Biol. for Everyman I. vii. 137 The resting chrysalid..is rather different from the comatose queen humble-bee or queen wasp.
1971 Country Life 1 July 29/3, I recently discovered two queen wasps beginning to build their nests on the undersides..of our nesting boxes.
1724—1971(Hide quotations)
queen-widow n. = Queen Dowager n.
a1623 Sir G. Buck Hist. Richard III (1979) (modernized text) iv. 190 Neither the queen widow nor her daughter were altered or estranged, but continued constant in their desire and expectation.
1724 London Gaz. No. 6306/2 The Small Pox are come out very violently on the Queen Widow.
1837 Times 29 Dec. 5/6 The Queen widow Donna Maria Christina de Bourbon.
1891 C. Creighton Hist. Epidemics Brit. 288 The queen-widow (mother of Edward V) had died of the plague.
1927 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. 48 207 The marriage of Cleopatra..is a testimony to the wealth and prestige of the queen-widow.
1991 N. Rubin Isabella of Castille iv. 26 The queen widow supervised the youngsters' education.
a1623—1991(Hide quotations)
queenwood n. the wood of any of several tropical trees, esp. Parapiptadenia rigida of South America, Daviesia arborea of north-east Australia (both of the family Fabaceae ( Leguminosae)), and Davidsonia pruriens (family Davidsoniaceae) of Queensland; (also) any of these trees; cf. king-wood n. at king n. Compounds 2a.
1873 R. Hunt Weale's Dict. Terms Archit. (ed. 4) 353/1 Queen-wood, sent from the Brazils, is a term applied to woods of the green-heart and cocoa-wood character.
1889 J. H. Maiden Useful Native Plants Austral. 415 Daviesia arborea..‘Queen-wood’. This wood is hard, close-grained, with beautiful pink streaked lines.
1902 G. S. Boulger Wood ii. 300 Queen-wood..North-eastern Australia... Streaked with pink, hard, close-grained, susceptible of a fine polish.
1997 D. J. Mabberley Plant-bk. (ed. 2) 602 Queenwood, Daviesia arborea.
1873—1997(Hide quotations)
C3. Compounds with queen's.
a. In titles or appellations, with the sense of ‘belonging to, in the service of, the queen’, ‘royal’ (cf. king n. Compounds 3), as Queen's bench, counsel, evidence, highway, keys, letter, messenger, pay, peace, prison, servant, shilling, speech, wardrobe: see the second element.
Queen's Advocate n. now hist. (a) the chief legal officer of the Crown in Scotland, Ireland, and certain Commonwealth countries; cf. King's Advocate n. at king n. Compounds 3b; Lord Advocate n. at lord n. and int. Compounds 2; (b) Brit. a legal representative of the Crown in an ecclesiastical court.
1704 Acct. Proc. Privy Council Scotl. against D. Baillie 12 The Queen's Advocate told him, he would prosecute him upon the Statute of Leasing-Making.
1837 Morning Post 16 Nov. The Queen's Advocate then addressed the Court on behalf of the churchwardens.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 205/1 The High Court of Admiralty of Ireland..having a judge, a registrar, a marshal and a king's or queen's advocate.
1968 Internat. & Compar. Law Q. 17 269 The Legal Adviser to the Foreign Office became the repositary of the vestigial remains of the office of Queen's Advocate.
2006 P. Peebles Hist. Sri Lanka v. 61 The Queen's Advocate begged the governor to pardon the monk.
1704—2006(Hide quotations)
b.
queen's allowance n. Mil. (now hist. and rare) an allowance granted to the officers' mess.So called after Queen Victoria (see Victoria n.2), who was the reigning monarch when the allowance became known under this name (cf. the source of quot. 1868). It was app. first granted in the Regency and also known by other names, e.g. (prince) regent's allowance and mess allowance.
1868 Queen's Regulations for Army II. §304 The Queen's allowance..is granted to each troop, battery, and company, in aid of the expenses of the officers' mess.
1881 J. A. Ewart Story of Soldier's Life II. ix. 320 Government grants annually to every regiment serving at home what is called the ‘Queen's allowance’. It is 25l. per annum for each troop or company.
1897 G. A. Henty Queen's Cup I. ii. 70 Well done, lad; you are quite right to give up cards, and to cut yourself off liquors beyond the Queen's allowance.
1918 E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms 484 Queen's Allowance, in the British service, an allowance in aid of the expenses of the officer's mess.
1868—1918(Hide quotations)
queen's arm n. (freq. with capital initials) U.S. (now hist.) a type of musket dating from the reign of Queen Anne and commonly used in colonial America and later by American frontiersmen.
1836 Family Mag. May 97/1 Rifles cracked, and queen's arms roared in arithmetical progression, till all was one tremendous, booming thunder.
1848 J. R. Lowell Biglow Papers 1st Ser. Notices 8 The ole queen's arm thet gran'ther Young Fetched back from Concord busted.
1898 A. M. Earle Home Life in Colonial Days iii. 56 The favorite resting-place for the old queen's-arm or fowling-piece was on hooks over the kitchen fireplace.
1941 F. F. Van de Water Reluctant Republic i. ii. 35 The guns that had been imported from the lower settlements were smooth-bore firelocks, the old ‘Queen's arm’ of the Indian wars.
1994 L. K. Newell & V. T. Avery Mormon Enigma (ed. 2) iii. 50 His father proudly gave him a Queen's Arm musket to complete the outfit.
1836—1994(Hide quotations)
queen's bishop n. Chess the bishop standing on the queen's side of the board at the beginning of the game; cf. King's Bishop at king n. 9a.
1562 tr. Damiano da Odemira Pleasaunt Playe of Cheasts sig. Cv, Thou shalte playe thy queenes Paune one steppe geuing him checke by discouery of thy queenes Bishoppe.
1674 C. Cotton Compl. Gamester v. 58 The Queens Bishop's Pawn guards the third house before the Queen, and the third before the Queens Knight.
1750 tr. G. Greco Chess made Easy p. xii, PC3, that is, P into C3, or Pawn into the third Square of C, or the Queen's Bishop.
1808 J. H. Sarratt Treat. Chess I. 151 If..he should play his King's Pawn one step, attacking your Queen's Bishop, you must give him check with your Queen.
1891 Times 14 Feb. 7/6 The 20th move of Mr. Steinitz in the Evans Gambit game is king's bishop to queen's bishop's second.
1991 R. Keene Battle of Titans (BNC) 111 Karpov prefers to re-introduce his queen's bishop into the defence.
1562—1991(Hide quotations)
queen's chair n. a makeshift seat; spec. = queen's cushion n. 1; cf. king's chair n. at king n. Compounds 3c.
1894 A. B. Gomme Trad. Games I. 305 King's Chair. Two children join hands, by crossing their arms, so as to form a seat. A third mounts on the crossed arms, and clasps the carriers round their necks... Jamieson says..this method of carrying is often used as a substitute for a chair in conveying adult persons from one place to another, especially when infirm. In other counties it is called ‘Queen's Cushion’ and ‘Queen's Chair’, also ‘Cat's Carriage’.
1965 S. T. Ollivier Petticoat Farm vi. 77 Henry's buggy reins, tied to a cream-can lid, had formed a queen's chair for Harry.
2004 Village Voice (N.Y.) (Nexis) 13 July 46 On Friday afternoons, they ‘help’ people across the intersection of Water and Broad, using such lifts as the Superman, the Queen's Chair, and the Battering Ram.
1894—2004(Hide quotations)
queen's china n. = queen's ware n.
1773 J. Minzies Let. 12 June in John Norton & Sons (1968) 330, 2 Dozen large wash-hand basins of Queen's China.
1995 Washington Post (Nexis) 23 Nov. t11 During the Revolution, when Washington was encamped at Middlebrook, N.J., he had the quartermaster order a set of Queens China.
1773—1995(Hide quotations)
queen's cloth n. [compare post-classical Latin regilla (see quot. c1450), regillum noblewoman's dress, precious fabric (11th cent. in an apparently isolated attestation in a British source)] now rare a type of cloth; (also) spec. fine cotton shirting used in the West Indies.
c1450 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 607/19 (MED), Regilla, anglice, a Quenyscloth.
1713 in J. A. Johnston Probate Inventories of Lincoln Citizens 1661–1714 (1991) 139, 20 yards broad black cloth..2 Remnants..9 yards Queens cloth..23 yards Devonshire plaine..21 yards Devonshire Kersey.
1818 M. Edgeworth Let. 29 Oct. (1971) 130 Tell me which you prefer the Merino or the Queens cloth... The queens cloth comes to a guinea the dress cheaper.
1900 Anaconda (Montana) Standard 20 Sept. 8/7 (advt.) Made from Heyl's imported patent calfskin with queen's cloth tops, hand sewed turn soles. Louis XV heels.
1975 C. Calasibetta Fairchild's Dict. Fashion 202/1 Queen's cloth, fine cotton shirting bleached after weaving, made in Jamaica in West Indies.
c1450—1975(Hide quotations)
Queen's colour n. †(a) Carriage-building (app.) a dark burgundy colour (obs.); (b) (in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries) one of the two flags making up, along with the Regimental Colour, the colours carried by a regiment, typically having a design which incorporates the Union Jack or other national flag and the royal cipher (usu. with capital initial in the second element); cf. colour n.1 20a.
1837 Times 27 Oct. 1/3 A handsome, four-wheeled cab phaeton, painted Queen's colour.
1842 Times 6 May 6/5 When the troops were attacked at Jugdulluck, he tore the Queen's colour from the staff, and wrapped it round his body, to save it, as he hoped, from falling into the hands of the enemy.
1843 R. S. Surtees Handley Cross I. vii. 123 The coach, jobbed from London, and newly done up for the occasion, was dark claret, or Queen's colour, with a flaming red hammer-cloth.
1871 Exchange & Mart 30 Aug. 236 A capital phaeton for sale, to carry four, painted Queen's colour, and lined with dark green.
1903 R. P. Berry Hist. Volunteer Infantry 455 The Queen's Colour is the ‘Union’ throughout, bearing in the centre of the red cross of St. George an embroidered Royal Crown.
1963 Times 10 June 8/3 In brilliant sunshine on Saturday the Queen's Colour of the 2nd battalion, Grenadier Guards was trooped in the presence of the Queen on the Horse Guards Parade.
2006 Western Daily Press (Nexis) 4 Sept. 15 Fifty years ago, as a young subaltern, I carried the Queen's Colour of the 1st Somersets into Wells Cathedral on our return from Malaya.
1837—2006(Hide quotations)
queen's conch n. rare = queen conch n. at Compounds 2.
1812 E. Weeton Let. June in Jrnl. of Governess (1969) II. 93, I have inquired the price of shells... Yours are conch shells; these are called Queen's conches.
1963 Times 27 Apr. 11/2 The pink queen's conch shell from the Caribbean.
1812—1963(Hide quotations)
Queen's English n. (usu. with the) the English language regarded as under the guardianship of the Queen of England; (hence) standard or correct English, usually as written and spoken by educated people in Britain; cf. King's English n. at king n. Compounds 3a.
1592 T. Nashe Strange Newes sig. B1v, He must be running on the letter, and abusing the Queenes English without pittie or mercie.
a1753 P. Drake Mem. (1755) II. iii. 81 He was pretty far overcome by the Champaign, for he clipped the Queen's English.
1848 Southern Lit. Messenger 14 636/2 ‘On’ yesterday, (another Southern emendation of the Queen's English, which is funny enough,) I was so unfortunate [etc.].
1867 F. S. Cozzens Sayings 82 In fact, that arbitrary style of speaking which is commonly known as the Queen's English.
1885 Punch 4 July 5/2 (heading) The Premier's Primer; or Queen's English as she is wrote.
1902 F. Hume Fever of Life 146, I! Oh, how can you? I speak the Queen's English.
1991 K. Waterhouse English our English p. xvii, The more slipshod English in circulation, the wider the assumption that it doesn't matter any more, that the Queen's English is by now the quaint preserve of pedants.
2006 PC Gamer Apr. 79/1 This doesn't mean that the cast of characters suddenly speak the Queen's English with cut-glass accents and quote Shakespeare.
1592—2006(Hide quotations)
queen's evil n. now hist. scrofula (cf. earlier king's evil n.); also fig.
1584 R. Scot Discouerie Witchcraft xii. xiv. 244 To heale the Kings or Queenes euill, or any other sorenesse in the throte..touch the place with the hand of one that died an vntimelie death.
1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique i. xii. 58 For the Queenes euill [margin The Kinges euill].
1870 Times 14 Jan. 10/3 He was afraid that Mr. Bright, having basked in the sunshine of Royalty, had caught the Queen's evil, or been inoculated by the flunkeys surrounding the Throne.
1999 S. E. Whyman Sociability & Power in Late-Stuart Eng. 169 After the 1710 election, almost every letter requested favours: land tax and excise offices, military commissions, benefices, and touching for the Queen's evil.
1584—1999(Hide quotations)
queen's gambit n. Chess a gambit in which a sacrifice of the queen's bishop's pawn is offered; cf. King's Gambit at king n. 9a.
1735 J. Bertin Noble Game of Chess 38 The Queen's Gambet, which gives a Pawn, with a design to catch her adversary's Queen's Rook.
1764 R. Lambe Hist. Chess 120 The Queen's Gambit..produces many different games... This here is supposed to be its true defence.
1875 G. H. D. Gossip Chess-player's Man. 705 The Queen's Gambit accepted and declined.
1935 PMLA 50 765 The opening is the Queen's Gambit Declined.
1994 Chess Monthly June 13/2 The kind of chessplayer most likely to be successful with this opening will be someone who has practised less complicated lines (the Queen's Gambit, the Dutch Defence etc.).
1735—1994(Hide quotations)
† queen's game n. Obs. a game resembling backgammon; cf. doublet n. 3b.
c1557 Enterlude of Youth (new ed.) sig. Ciii, Syr can teache you to play at the dice At the quenes game and at the Iryshe.
?1605 J. Davies Wittes Pilgrimage sig. N3v, Here Love at Tick-tack plaies, or at Queens-game; But, Irishe hates.
1694 P. A. Motteux tr. Rabelais Wks. i. xxii. 81 There he played..at doublets or queens-game.
c1557—1694(Hide quotations)
queen's gold n. [compare post-classical Latin aurum regine (frequently 1086–1419 in British sources)] now hist. a former revenue of the king's consort, consisting of one-tenth on certain fines paid to the king.
1466 in C. L. Kingsford Stonor Lett. & Papers (1919) I. 87 (MED), Y have be with my maisterys Langford and Roger as for þe quenys gold.
1657 W. Prynne Exact Abridgement Rec. Tower of London Table Alphabetical sig. Ggv, Queens gold when and how to be levied, though petitioned against.
1714 Laws of Honour 221 Anciently the Queens had a Revenue called Aurum Regina, that is, the Queens Gold, which was the Tenth part of what came to the King by the Name of oblata upon Pardons, and Gifts.
1898 J. H. Ramsay Found. Eng. II. xxi. 328 The Queen's Gold, of which one instance has just been given, was an extra percentage on so-called ‘voluntary’ offerings.
1935 Speculum 10 56 His financial obligation to the King involved the payment of an additional two hundred marks as Gueen's Gold to Queen Eleanor.
1987 Eng. Hist. Rev. 102 372 A useful precedent existed in the customary payment of queen's gold but this was insufficient for the queen's maintenance.
1466—1987(Hide quotations)
queen's grey n. and adj. U.S. (now rare) (a) n. a shade of grey, used for fabrics and later other consumer items; (b) adj. of this colour.
1845 in C. Cist Cincinnati Misc. 138 Their dresses were chiefly of silk, of various colors, and some of them were of good old fashioned Queen's gray.
1852 E. Leslie Pencil Sketches 289 Dressed in her queen's-gray lutestring, and one of her Brussels lace caps.
1906 Washington Post 25 Feb. (advt.) Queen's gray cheviot... A sturdy fabric, all wool, in queen's gray.
1949 Davenport (Iowa) Democrat & Leader 13 Mar. 51/3 (advt.) Looks, runs, and drives like new. Original queen's gray finish and custom leather upholstery in perfect condition.
1845—1949(Hide quotations)
Queen's Guide n. (in Britain and some former British colonies) a Guide (guide n. 2d) who has reached the highest rank of proficiency.So called after Queen Elizabeth, consort of George VI, later the Queen Mother (see Queen Mum n. at Compounds 2). Cf. Queen's Scout n.
1946 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 19 Nov. 17/5 The 21st St. Andrew F.O. Company of Girl Guides of the Immaculate Conception High School, Constant Spring, has given Jamaica its first Queen's Guide.
1968 M. E. Brimelow Guide Handbk. iv. 70 If a Guide has..taken a full and active part including earning badges, in all the Eight Points of the Programme..she can qualify as a Queen's Guide.
2006 Mirror (Nexis) 12 July 13 To win my Queen's Guide Award, I recall fashioning a tent peg out of a lump of wood, a skill lost to me in the intervening years. In retrospect, being prepared for long lunches would have stood me in better stead.
1946—2006(Hide quotations)
queen's head n. now hist. and rare a postage stamp.So called after Queen Victoria (see Victoria n.2), whose head is depicted on the stamp.
1840 Chambers's Edinb. Jrnl. 11 July 193/2 The perplexed purchaser immediately devotes a queen's head, as he most irreverently calls it, to the purpose of asking the editors what he is to do.
1844 A. Smith Adventures Mr. Ledbury I. xv. 194 Notes it would not do to stick a penny Queen's Head upon.
1860 C. M. Yonge Stokesley Secret (1861) 16, I must have a queen's-head to write to Mamma.
1879 Trollope John Caldigate III. x. 132 That stamp, that effigy, that two-penny queen's-head.
1915 Chambers's Jrnl. Sept. 599/1 When the new stamp was introduced it was invariably called the ‘queen's head’.
[1985 Times 24 July 42/5 Commemorative and special stamps are not issued for fun. The production costs are considerable and the public only buys them for use as it would the everyday Queen's head stamps.]
1840—1915(Hide quotations)
queen's knight n. Chess the knight placed on the queen's side of the board at the beginning of the game; cf. King's Knight at king n. 9a.
1674 C. Cotton Compl. Gamester iv. 41 The Queens Knight guards her Pawn, and the third House in the front of her Bishops Pawn, also the third House in the front of her Rooks pawn.
1750 ‘A. D. Philidor’ Chess Analysed 4 The Queen's Knight at his Queen's second Square.
1818 W. S. Kenny Pract. Chess Exercises 106 You prevent him by pushing immediately your queen's knight's pawn upon his knight, which..obliges the adversary to take your pawn en passant.
1897 Times 25 Sept. 11/2 The following show critical situations in recent play. In the first, Black (Herr Walbrodt) ventured on the capture of the queen's knight's pawn in a position where it appears the capture was unsound.
1991 R. Keene Battle of Titans (BNC) 22 Repositioning the white queen's knight on an ideal attacking square.
1674—1991(Hide quotations)
queen's metal n. now rare any of several alloys of tin and antimony with other metals, resembling Britannia metal and formerly used for tableware, teapots, etc.; also fig.
1785 Daily Universal Reg. 28 June 4/4 Queen's Metal Spoons being the best substitute for Silver Spoons for hardness and durability.
1804 S. T. Coleridge Notebks. (1962) II. 2026 How hard to describe that sort of Queen's metal plating, which the Moonlight forms on the bottle-green sea.
1856 W. A. Miller Elements Chem. II. 930 Another alloy, which is intermediate in properties between pewter and Britannia metal, is called Queen's metal.
1969 E. N. Simons Dict. Alloys 135 Queen's metal..is in effect a type of Britannia metal not now greatly used, if at all.
1785—1969(Hide quotations)
† queen's own n. Obs. Navy slang Government property or provisions, esp. those on board a ship, during the reign of a queen.App. so called after Queen Victoria (see Victoria n.2), who was the reigning monarch at the time. Cf. king's own (1867 in the same source, or earlier).
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Queen's own, Sea provision (when a queen reigns).
1867—1867(Hide quotations)
† queen's parade n. Obs. Navy slang the quarterdeck of a ship.App. so called after Queen Victoria (see Victoria n.2), who was the reigning monarch at the time. Cf. king's parade (1867 in the same source, or earlier).
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Queen's parade, the quarter-deck.
1867—1867(Hide quotations)
queen's pattern n. an ornamental pattern used on porcelain (see quots. 1928, 1957).App. so called after Queen Charlotte (see queen's ware n.). Cf. quots. 1910 and 2000.
1769 Catal. Worcester Porcelaine in J. E. Nightingale Contrib. towards Hist. of Eng. Porcelain (1881) 95 Twelve fluted handle cups and saucers, 6 coffee cups, and two tea pots plain Queen's pattern 2l.
1853 H. Greeley Art & Industry xi. 117 A queen's pattern vase, painted and gilt, is an object worth inspecting.
1910 R. L. Hobson Worcester Porc. vii. 58 The catalogue of a sale of Worcester porcelain at Christie's, in 1769, includes several references to a ‘Queen's pattern’, which was no doubt the same as the traditional ‘Queen Charlotte's pattern’ of today.
1928 W. B. Honey Old Eng. Porc. viii. 167 A design in Oriental style long popular at Worcester..consists of vertical or spirally curved panels alternately red on white and white on blue, with gilding... It was variously known as the ‘whorl’, ‘spiral’, ‘catherine-wheel’ and ‘Queen's pattern’.
1957 C. W. Mankowitz & R. G. Haggar Conc. Encycl. Eng. Pott. & Porc. 186/1 Queen's pattern, a counter-changed pattern consisting of alternate radiating whirling bands of red-on-white and white-on-blue ornament with gilded embellishments used at Worcester from c. 1770 onwards.
1974 ‘K. Royce’ Trap Spider i. 12 The cutlery was mid-Georgian Queen's pattern.
2000 Capital (Annapolis, Maryland) 28 Jan. 20 The manufacture of blue and white ware ceased with the exception of the blue ‘Royal Lily’ or ‘Queen's Pattern’ chosen by Queen Charlotte on her visit to factory in 1788.
1769—2000(Hide quotations)
queen's pawn n. Chess the pawn immediately in front of the queen at the beginning of the game; cf. King's Pawn at king n. 9a.
1562 tr. Damiano da Odemira Pleasaunt Playe of Cheasts sig. Cv, Thou shalte playe thy queenes Paune one steppe geuing him checke by discouery of thy queenes Bishoppe.
1625 T. Middleton Game at Chæss ii. sig. D2 v, Let me see Queenes pawne, How formerly has packt vp his intelligences.
1735 J. Bertin Noble Game of Chess p. v, The king's pawn, the bishop's pawn, and the queen's pawn, must move before the knights.
1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Alice II. iv. viii. 46, I think I will take the queen's pawn.
1919 Times 14 Aug. 13/5 Kostich defended a Queen's Pawn opening against A. G. Conde.
1994 Daily Tel. 28 Nov. 24/7 GM Gruenfeld..developed the Gruenfeld Defence, a counter to the queen's pawn where Black usually relinquishes control of the centre with the aim of hitting back later from the flanks.
1562—1994(Hide quotations)
† queen's pigeon n. Obs. rare the Victoria crowned pigeon, Goura victoria.So called after Queen Victoria (see Victoria n.2).
1851 S. F. Baird tr. J. G. Heck Iconogr. Encycl. II. Zool. 369 The two largest birds of the family of pigeons..are the crowned pigeon and the queen's pigeon (Goura coronata and G. victoria).
1851—1851(Hide quotations)
queen's pudding n. (a) a steamed suet pudding; (b) = queen of puddings n. at Phrases 1b.
1852 F. Bishop Illustr. London Cookery Bk. xxvi. 410 Queen's pudding, with vanilla.
1917 N. Soyer Standard Cookery 271 Queen's Pudding. Ingredients.—Eight ounces of finely-chopped suet [etc.].
1935 G. Greene Basement Room 9 It was a pudding he liked, Queen's pudding with a perfect meringue.
2006 Hindustan Times (Nexis) 31 Mar. Nothing can beat the Queen's Pudding when it comes to desserts. It is as sinful as it looks.
1852—2006(Hide quotations)
queen's rook n. Chess the rook placed on the queen's side of the board at the beginning of the game; cf. King's Rook at king n. 9a.
1674 C. Cotton Compl. Gamester iv. 42 The Queens Knight's Pawn guards the third House before the Queens Bishop, and the third before the Queens Rook.
1735 J. Bertin Chess 38 The Queens Gambet, which gives a Pawn with a design to catch her adversary's Queen's Rook.
1870 Putnam's Mag. Sept. 270/2 Towards the end of the game, she had become quite muddy in her intellects, and made a knight's move with queen's rook.
1927 Times 22 Sept. 12/5 White must get the queen's rook into safety.
1991 R. Keene Battle of Titans (BNC) 113 It is curious that he captures the black queen's rook before it has managed to make a single move.
1674—1991(Hide quotations)
Queen's Scout n. (in Britain and some former British colonies) a Scout (scout n.4 2c) who has reached the highest rank of proficiency.So called after Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (see Queen Mum n. at Compounds 2). Cf. Queen's Guide n.
1952 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 18 Feb. 3/3 Peter has the Bushman's Thong, a proficiency award for camping and outdoor work. The Thong is the highest qualification for the Queen's Scout badge which he won last year.
1962 L. Deighton Ipcress File iii. 24 He picked the limp Raven off the..table like a Queen's scout with a rucksack.
1975 Scout Handbk. xxix. 274 Beyond the Membership Badge you'll aim for the Venture Award and the Queen's Scout Award.
2004 T. H. Parsons Race, Resistance, & Boy Scout Movement vii. 241 The rank of Queen's Scout became the Springbok in South Africa, the Simba (lion) in Kenya, and the Crested Crane in Uganda.
1952—2004(Hide quotations)
queen's staysail n. rare = queen staysail n. at Compounds 2.
1926 Yachting Monthly Aug. 244/1 Above the mainstaysail was another triangular sail, commonly known as a ‘Queen's’ staysail.
1926—1926(Hide quotations)
† queen's stuff n. and adj. Obs. (a) n. a type of fabric (prob. woollen or worsted) used for making women's garments; a piece of this; (b) adj. made of this fabric; cf. queen's cloth n.
1766 W. Gordon Gen. Counting-house 428, 16 fine brocaded queens stuffs.
1807 T. S. Surr Mask of Fashion 10 She wore a quaker-coloured round gown, of Queen's stuff.
1845 S. Judd Margaret ii. xi. 358 Rose had on..a queens-stuff habit of the same color.
1766—1845(Hide quotations)
queen's ware n. a cream-coloured Wedgwood earthenware; (also) a kind of stoneware.So called after Queen Charlotte (1744–1818, consort of George III, King of Great Britain and Ireland), who gave royal patronage to J. Wedgwood on account of this ware.
1767 J. Wedgwood Let. in Sel. Lett. (1965) 58 The demand for this said Creamcolour, Alias Queens Ware, Alias Ivory still increases.
1783 J. Wedgwood in Philos. Trans. 1782 (Royal Soc.) 72 320 Delft ware is fired by a heat of 40 or 41°; cream-coloured or Queen's ware, by 86°.
1788 A. Young Jrnl. 22 Aug. in Trav. France (1792) i. 79 English goods..hard and queen's ware; cloths and cottons.
1863 W. Chaffers Marks & Monogr. Pott. & Porc. 120 The principal inventions of Wedgwood were, 1, the cream-coloured table ware, afterwards called Queen's ware; [etc.].
1872 ‘M. Twain’ Roughing It lix. 432 By and by he went home to his lodgings—an empty queensware hogshead,—and employed himself till night trying to make up his mind what to buy with it.
1884 Internat. Health Exhib. Official Catal. 49/2 Sanitary appliances in action, and general Queen's Ware.
1900 F. Litchfield Pott. & Porc. iii. 32 [Thomas Whieldon's] celebrated cream ware, called ‘Queen's ware’.
1906 Dial. Notes 3 152 Queensware,..ordinary crockery. ‘You can get queensware at Hansard's grocery or the ten-cent store.’
1961 Connoisseur New Guide to Antique Eng. Pottery, Porcelain & Glass 54 [Wedgwood's] Queensware was copied by most of the potters of his time.
2005 Brit. Life Jan.–Feb. 9/2 Wedgwood set up in business at Burslem, eventually perfecting an elegant yet durable cream-coloured earthenware called Queen's Ware.
1767—2005(Hide quotations)
Queen's weather n. fine weather.
1851 Househ. Words 1 Mar. 529/1 The sky was cloudless; a brilliant sun gave to it that cheering character which..has passed into a proverb, as ‘The Queen's Weather’.
1893 ‘S. Grand’ Heavenly Twins I. ii. iv. 234 ‘Queen's weather!’ he remarked. ‘Yes,’ she answered, looking out at the sparkling water.
1899 Star (Johannesburg) (Weekly ed.) 22 Apr. Although the wind is rather high, Queen's weather prevails.
1937 M. V. Hughes London Home in Nineties x. 167 The ‘Queen's weather’ of glorious sunshine began to work in the early part of the year [sc. 1897].
2002 Calgary (Alberta) Herald (Nexis) 8 Apr. b4 (headline) Calgarians take time for farewell tribute: ‘Queen's weather’ adds to occasion.
1851—2002(Hide quotations)
queen's woman n. slang (now hist.) a female prostitute who received medical attention under the terms of the Contagious Diseases Acts of the 1860s.App. so called after Queen Victoria (see Victoria n.2), the monarch when the act was passed.
1871 Rep. Royal Comm. Admin. Contag. Dis. Acts I. 14 in Parl. Papers (C. 408) XIX. 1 Some of them are called ‘Queen's women’; some exhibit the printed order to attend the periodical examination as a certificate of health.
1981 F. K. Prochaska Women & Philanthropy vi. 205 One effect of the [Contagious Diseases] Acts was the creation of an outcast and more professional class of prostitute, ‘Queen's women’ as they were sometimes called.
1871—1981(Hide quotations)
† queen's yellow n. Obs. a toxic yellow pigment consisting of a basic mercury sulphate; = turpeth mineral n. at turpeth n. 2; cf. (in different sense) king's yellow n. at king n. Compounds 3c.
1806 Times 21 Jan. 1/3 (advt.) Chariot and coach to be sold, both painted Queen's yellow.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour II. 70/1 When canaries are ‘a bad colour’..they are re-dyed, by the application of..‘Queen's yellow’.
1879 Globe Encycl. V. 282/1 Queen's Yellow or Turbith's Mineral, a pigment consisting of a subsulphate of mercury.
1806—1879(Hide quotations)
c. In the names of plants.
† queen's balm n. Obs. rare alyssum (genera Alyssum and Lobularia).
1797 J. Abercrombie Every Man his Own Gardener (ed. 15) 103 The sorts proper to sow at this time are..nigella, queen's balm, annual sun-flower.
1797—1797(Hide quotations)
† queen's berry n. Obs. rare cloudberry, Rubus chamaemorus.
1854 S. Thomson Wanderings among Wild Flowers iii. 223 It is the cloud-berry, or queen's-berry.
1854—1854(Hide quotations)
queen's delight n. the plant Stillingia sylvatica (family Euphorbiaceae), of the southern United States, valued for its medicinal root; (also) this root; also called queen's root.
1826 R. Mills Statistics S. Carolina 89 Stillandsia Sylvatica, Queen's Delight; the root of this plant acts as an emetic.
1901 C. T. Mohr Plant Life Alabama 594 Queen's Delight... Southeastern Virginia to Florida, west to Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas.
1988 R. Mabey et al. Compl. New Herbal i. 57/3 Once thought to be a reliable cure for syphilis (which it is not), Queen's delight is now used as a stimulating expectorant to treat bronchitis, laryngitis and croup.
1826—1988(Hide quotations)
queen's flower n. [compare scientific Latin flos-reginae, former specific epithet] (more fully queen's flower tree) an ornamental tropical tree, Lagerstroemia speciosa (family Lythraceae); also called jarool; pride of India (cf. queen of flowers n. at Phrases 1a).
1799 Asiatic Res. (London ed.) 4 301 Koen. Queen's Flower Lagerstroemia.
1890 Cent. Dict. Queen's-flower, the bloodwood or jarool, Lagerstrœmia Flos-reginæ, a medium-sized tree of the East Indies.
1963 News (Van Nuys, Calif.) 3 Oct. 16/4 When Queen Victoria visited the Far East, she was much impressed with their magnificent showy flowers... It is in her honor..the people of the Orient refer to the blooms as the Queen's Flower.
1996 R. Allsopp Dict. Caribbean Eng. Usage 460/2 Queen's-flower tree (Jmca), a large shade tree with plentiful pendent clusters of mauve flowers Lagerstroemia flos-reginae or L. speciosa.
1799—1996(Hide quotations)
† queen's gillyflower n. Obs. sweet rocket, Hesperis matronalis (cf. queen's July-flower n., queen's violet n.).
1573 T. Tusser Fiue Hundreth Points Good Husbandry (new ed.) f. 41, Herbes, branchis, & flowers for windowes & potts... Quene geliflowers [1577 Queenes gilliflowers].
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. iv. 68 The double Uiolet, commonly called the Queens Gilliflower, is of three kinds, White, Purple, and striped (that is) of Purple, finely striped with White.
1733 P. Miller Gardener's Dict. (ed. 2) at Hesperis, (It is call'd Viola Matronalis, because it resembles the Violet, and was at first cultivated by Women.) Dame's Violet, or Queen's Gilliflower.
1573—1733(Hide quotations)
† queen's herb n. Obs. tobacco (cf. queen mother herb n. at queen mother n. Compounds).So called after Catherine de Medici (see note at queen mother herb n. at queen mother n. Compounds).
1577 J. Frampton tr. N. Monardes Three Bookes ii. f. 42, Some haue called this Hearbe the Queenes herbe, because it was firste sente vnto her.
1659 G. Everard Panacea 4 Shee..admiring at it, as being a new Universall Remedy, gave it her Name; and after that, all France over, it was called the Queens Herb.
1793 G. Riley Beauties of Creation (ed. 2) V. 77 Tobacco, says Pomet,..is called Nicotiana, because Mr. J. Nicot, a French ambassador in Portugal,..brought it into France to the queen regent; upon which account it was likewise called the Queen's Herb.
1826 Times 1 Dec. 3/6 When it first appeared in France it was called Nicotiana, from the name of the person who brought it there from Portugal; it was also called queen's herb, because this person presented some of it to Catherine de Medicis.
[1966 Jrnl. Amer. Folklore 79 592 L'herbe de la Reine,..in honor of Catherine de' Medici (italian, herba regina; English ‘Queen's herb’).]
1577—1826(Hide quotations)
† queen's July-flower n. Obs. rare sweet rocket, Hesperis matronalis (cf. queen's gillyflower n., queen's violet n.).
1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 314/1 Queen's July flower, Hesperis.
1787 R. W. Darwin Principia Botanica 276 Violet, Dames; Rocket; or Queen's July-flower.
1760—1787(Hide quotations)
queen's lace n. U.S. wild carrot, Daucus carota (cf. Queen Anne's lace n. at Queen Anne n. 2b).
a1871 A. Cary Queen of Roses in Poet. Wks. Alice & Phœbe Cary (1877) 216 And never queen's lace made so fair a show As that doth, knitted in her two white hands.
1947 L. M. Beebe Mixed Train Daily 88 This freight train,..wading pleasantly through springtime Arkansas meadows brave with daisies and queen's lace, is the Graysonia.
1990 Daily Herald (Chicago) 26 July v. 1/4 Shrub roses, day lillies, queen's lace and flowering crab trees also have helped the area to take on the look of a meadow.
a1871—1990(Hide quotations)
† queen's pincushion n. Eng. regional Obs. rare the flower clusters of the guelder rose, Viburnum opulus.
1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northamptonshire Words II. 151 Queen's pincushion, the flowers of the Guelder rose. Viburnum opulus.
1854—1854(Hide quotations)
queen's root n. = queen's delight n.
1844 R. Dunglison Dict. Med. Sci. (ed. 4) 608/2 Queen's Root, Stillingia.
1906 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 25 Apr. 7/2 Queen's root, or Stillingia, is an ingredient..highly recommended..for the cure of chronic or lingering bronchial, throat and lung affections.
1988 R. Mabey et al. New Herbal 57/3 Stillingia sylvatica. Queen's delight, Queen's root, yawroot.
1844—1988(Hide quotations)
† queen's violet n. Obs. sweet rocket, Hesperis matronalis (cf. queen's gillyflower n., queen's July-flower n.).
1733 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. (ed. 2) Index, Queen's Violet, vide Hesperis.
1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App., p.331 Violet, Queen's, Hesperis.
1860 N. & Q. Feb. 151/2 There is also Dame's violet, or Queen's violet, Hesperis inodora.
1733—1860(Hide quotations)
queen's wreath n. a tropical vine, Petrea volubilis (family Verbenaceae), which is native to the Caribbean area and has rough-surfaced leaves and hanging clusters of typically purplish-blue flowers; also called purple wreath, sandpaper vine.
1922 Daily News (Galveston, Texas) 17 Sept. 29/7 A pink and green motif for decoration was chosen by the hostess, the combination being ferns and queen's wreath.
1949 L. H. Bailey Man. Cultivated Plants (rev. ed.) 843 P. volubilis, Jacq. Queens Wreath. Woody vine or subshrub to 35 ft...fls. pale blue to purple, in axillary racemes 3–12 in. long.
1983 C. King tr. W. Lötschert & G. Beese Trop. Plants 47 The genus Petrea..comprises 30 or so species... They include P. arborea, often planted as an ornamental shrub, and P. volubilis, the Queen's Wreath, another shrub which climbs to a height of 10m.
1922—1983(Hide quotations)
