| 释义 |
▪ I. queen, n.|kwiːn|
Forms: 1 cwœn, cwæn, cwénn, 1–3 cwén, (1 cu-), 2–3 cwene, kwene; 2–4 quen, (3 quu-, 4 qw-), 2–6 quene, (4–6 qw-, 5 qv-), 3 quiene, quyene, 4 qwhene, 4–5 whene, queyn, 4–6 queyne, 4–7 queene, 6 quein(e, 4– queen.
[OE. cwén str. fem. = OS. quân (once in Hel.), ON. kvæn (also kván), Goth. qêns woman:—OTeut. *kwæ̂ni-z f., an ablaut-var. of the stem represented by OE. cwene quean. The gen. sing. quene (OE. cwéne) is occas. found in ME.]
I.
1. A (king's) wife or consort; a lady who is wife to a king.
Even in OE., cwén was app. not an ordinary term for ‘wife’, but was applied only to the wife of a king or (in poetry) some famous person; in later use the only distinction between this sense and 2 a is that here the relationship of the queen to her husband is formally expressed.
c893K. ælfred Oros. i. ii. §2 æfter his deaðe Sameramis his cwen [L. uxor] fengc..to þæm rice. a1000Cædmon's Gen. 2259 Ða wearð unbliðe Abrahames cwen. c1050O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1048 Þa forlet se cyng þa hlæfdian seo wæs ᵹehalᵹod him to cwene. a1123Ibid. an. 1115 Willelme þe he be his cwene hæfde. c1205Lay. 43 ælienor þe wes Henries quene. 13..Coer de L. 1123 Erlys and barouns come hym to, And his quene dede alsoo. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, v. iii. 117 Ile vndertake to make thee Henries Queene. 1611― Wint. T. iii. ii. 12 Hermione, Queene to the worthy Leontes, King of Sicilia. 1859Tennyson Elaine 1215 As Arthur's Queen I move and rule.
2. a. The wife or consort of a king. b. A woman who is the chief ruler of a state, having the same rank and position as a king.
c825Vesp. Psalter xliv. 10 ætstod cwoen [L. regina] to swiðran ðire. c1000ælfric Hom. II. 584 Sum cwen wæs on ðam daᵹum on suðdæle, Saba ᵹehaten. c1205Lay. 24555 Þe king..to his mete uerde..þa quene [c 1275 cweane] on oðer halue hire hereberwe isohte. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 2/41 Bifore þe quyene huy come. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 608 Þe quene fader Corineus. 13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2492 Þe kyng kysseȝ þe knyȝt, & þe whene alce. c1400Destr. Troy 3163 Menelai wife, Lady of þis lond..and a gai qwhene. c1420Avow. Arth. xxxiii, Hit is atte the quene wille. 1473J. Warkworth Chron. (Camden) 9 The Lorde Scales, the Quenes brother, was sent thedere. 1562Winȝet Cert. Tractates Wks. 1888 I. 32 Dew obedience..to kingis, quenis, princes, and prelatis. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 19 The King doth keepe his Reuels here to night, Take heed the Queene come not within his sight. 1628Milton Vac. Exerc. 47 Then sing of secret things..And last of Kings and Queens and Hero's old. 1710Swift Lett. (1767) III. 29 My memorial which was given to the queen. 1845S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. II. 385 His sister waited in Vittoria..in order to enter France as queen.
c. With additions, as queen-consort, queen-dowager, † queen-dowrier, queen-rectrix, queen-regent, queen-regnant, queen-widow: see consort, etc.; also queen-mother. Queen Mum, colloq. alteration of queen-mother, used with affectionate reference to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (b. 1900).
1555[see dowrier]. 1622Bacon Hen. VII, Mor. & Hist. Wks. (Bohn, 1860) 311 To remain with the queen dowager her mother. 1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 198 A late Queen-Rectrix. 1727De Foe Syst. Magic i. ii. (1840) 42 The queen dowager was with child, and would bring forth a prince. 1765Blackstone Comm. i. iv. 212 The queen of England is either queen regent, queen consort, or queen dowager. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xxxvii, Since Margaret of Anjou, no queen-consort had exercised such weight in the political affairs of England. 1891C. Creighton Hist. Epidem. Brit. 288 The queen-widow (mother of Edward V) had died of the plague. 1960L. 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. 1965J. Potter Death in Office x. 101 Mrs Barber..extending a gloved hand from the sitting position: her imitation of the Queen Mum no doubt. 1974J. 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? 1980Times 4 Aug. 4/1 The dear old Queen Mum is..‘the best loved lady in the land’.
d. Queen and country: the objects of allegiance for a patriot whose head of state is a queen.
1706Farquhar Recruiting Officer v. 72, I endeavour by the Example of this worthy Gentleman to serve my Queen and Country at home. 1861C. M. Yonge Young Step-Mother xxix. 443 His son got his death fighting for his queen and his country. 1900Times 2 Apr. 7/1 It was a keen joy..to be allowed to fight for his Queen and country. 1906W. S. Churchill Lord Randolph Churchill (1907) xxi. 792 Night after night he had risen in his place to discharge..his duty—as he would have phrased it—to ‘Queen and country’. 1948F. Thompson Still glides Stream ii. 41 Thank God he died for his Queen and country! 1966J. Gardner Amber Nine i. 28 Anyway, got to go. Queen-and-Country as my lovable boss would say. 1977Sounds 9 July 20/6 Step up the beaches and annihilate somebody for Queen and country, get a medal pinned on your chest.
e. ellipt. as the Queen: the national anthem ‘God save the Queen’.
1898J. D. Brayshaw Slum Silhouettes 37 The curtain fell at last, and the band struck up the ‘Queen’. 1916M. 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. 1970Daily 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’.
3. a. As a title, place immediately before a personal name († in OE. immediately after it); also the queen, before or after the name (now arch.). See also Queen Anne.
c893K. ælfred Oros. i. x. §3 Þær wearð Marsepia sio cwen ofslaᵹen. c893O.E. Chron. (Parker MS.) an. 888 æþelswiþ cuen, sio wæs ælfredes sweostor cyninges. a1121Ibid. (Laud MS.) an. 1097 Malcomes sunu cynges & Margarite þære cwenan. c1205Lay. 2122 Hit is icleped Wales for þere quen Galoes. 13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 74 Whene Guenore ful gay, grayþed in þe myddes. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 165 Þan þe queene Emme gaf unto seynt Swithyn nyne maneres. 1506Sir R. Guylforde Pylgr. (1851) 4 Lasheles, where lyethe quene Elyanour of Englonde. 1572Memorial in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) 23 Young Quein Marie. 1673Wycherley Gent. Dancing-Master v. i. 95 You must..furnish as becomes one of my Quality; for don't you think we'll take up with your old Queen Elizabeth Furniture. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Queen Elizabeth's Pocket-pistol, a Brass-Cannon of a prodigious Length at Dover-Castle. 1738Swift Polite Conv. i, News? Why, Madam, Queen Elizabeth's dead. 1754Richardson Grandison I. xxxvii. 270 We will leave the modern world to themselves; and be Queen Elizabeth's women. 1847Wordsw. Ode Install. Pr. Albert ad. fin., The pride of the islands, Victoria the Queen. 1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 733/2 Queen Charlotte's ware, now known by the contracted title [Queensware].
b. Queen Mary. (a) Used attrib. in Queen Mary hat, a variety of toque popularized by Queen Mary (1867–1953), wife of King George V, who favoured it because it enabled the public to have a clear view of her face; so Queen Mary toque. (b) A type of long low-loading road trailer (in allusion to the Cunard passenger liner: see below).
(a)1938L. Bemelmans Life Class ii. iii. 140 She is dressed in a trotteur, and wears a hat with a thousand cloth violets, a Queen Mary toque. 1947New Yorker 22 Nov. 38/1 A Queen Mary hat protected her from the autumnal sunlight. 1950J. D. MacDonald Brass Cupcake (1955) xv. 157 She sold power shovels, sang baritone and wore Queen Mary hats. 1967L. J. Braun Cat who ate Danish Modern ix. 76 There was enough blue blood to float a ship... You never saw so many pince-nez and Queen Mary hats. 1977G. Markstein Chance Awakening x. 25 Golly sat down in the deck chair..with the grey-haired gentleman..and the old ladies with Queen Mary toques.
(b)1943C. H. Ward-Jackson It's a Piece of Cake 50 Queen Mary, a type of long, low-loading, articulated vehicle specially designed for the road transportation of airframes. 1949Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. LIII. 822 The Council wish to acknowledge their appreciation of the ‘Queen Mary’ which was kindly provided by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for the transport of some of the aircraft of the Shuttleworth Collection. 1960Picture Show Ann. 1961 (Austral.) 151/2 Queen Mary, a 60ft. trailer used for moving scenery. 1968I. Lambot Queen dies First v. 34 There's a signal in, from the salvage boys. They'll be sending a Queen Mary on Monday to shift it.
c. the Queens: the Cunard passenger liners, ‘Queen Mary’ and ‘Queen Elizabeth’.
1949P. Duff Brit. Ships & Shipping i. 28 The two Queens of the North Atlantic did invaluable service in every theatre of war. 1956H. Grattidge Captain 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. 1959Daily Tel. 9 Apr. 1/4 Plans to replace the ‘Queens’ must be modern and far-reaching. 1968O. Wynd Sumatra Seven Zero vi. 85 The first clang of metal sounded like a mid-Atlantic collision between the two Queens. 1970W. 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.
4. With specification of the people, country, etc. ruled over by a queen or by the king her consort, as Queen of Scots, Queen of France. Also Queen of Spain (see quot. 1866 and fritillary 2). Queen of Spain fritillary, an orange butterfly with black markings, Argynnis lathonia, belonging to the family Nymphalidæ and widely distributed in Europe, N. Africa, and parts of Asia.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xii. 42 Cuen suð-dæles arises..in dom. c1205Lay. 4570 He þohte to habben Delgan to quene of Denemarke. c1250Gen. & Ex. 296 Hu ma it ben, Adam ben king and eue quuen Of alle ðe ðinge in werlde ben. c1386Chaucer Man of Law's T. 63, I..wolde she were of all Europe the queene. c1440Generydes 17 His doughter quene of Inde. 1562Winȝet Cert. Tractates Wks. 1888 I. 2 The maist excellent and gracius Souerane, Marie Quene of Scottis. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. vi. 11 He..made her Of lower Syria, Cyprus, Lydia, absolute Queene. 1712–4Pope Rape Lock iii. 13 One speaks the glory of the British Queen. 1770Ann. Reg. 102 Died lately, at her hut at Norwood, Bridget, the Queen of the Gipseys. 1775M. Harris Eng. Lepidoptera 3 Fritillaria, Queen of Spain... Orange brown spotted with black. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) III. 200 Her Majesty or her successors, kings or queens of the realm. 1866Blackmore Cradock Nowell xxx, If by the ‘Queen of Spain’ you mean that common brown little butterfly. 1866[see fritillary 2]. 1906R. South Butterflies Brit. Isles 91 The Queen of Spain Fritillary... This butterfly is not unlike a small example of the Silver-washed Fritillary. 1976Country Life 18 Mar. 680/2 The remaining nine fritillaries include three occasional migrants, the Queen of Spain fritillary, the cardinal and the weaver's fritillary.
5. transf. A female whose rank or pre-eminence is comparable to that of a queen.
a. Applied to the Virgin Mary, esp. in phr. as Queen of glory, grace, heaven, paradise, women, etc.
a900Cynewulf Christ 276 Seo clæneste cwen ofer eorþan. 971Blickl. Hom. 105 Þa ealra fæmnena cwen cende þone soþan scyppend. a1240Ureisun in Cott. Hom. 195 Ich ðe bidde holi heouene kwene. c1325Song Virg. 33 in O.E. Misc. 195 Leuedi quene of parays. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxiv. (Alexis) 26 Þat he in weding borne was of mary, þe quene of grace. c1410Hoccleve Mother of God 2 O blisful queene, of queenes Emperice. c1470Henry Wallace i. 261 Quhen scho him saw scho thankit hewynnis queyn. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxxv. 37 Haile, qwene serene! Haile, mosteamene! 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies vii. xxvii. 582 The favour which the Queene of glorie did to our men. 1798Coleridge Anc. Mar. v. i, To Mary-queen the praise be yeven. 1840I. Taylor Ancient Chr. (1842) II. ii. 169 Our Queen, though the Queen of heaven as well as of earth [etc.].
b. Applied to the goddesses of ancient religions or mythologies; also in phrases, as queen of heaven, love, marriage, etc.
1382Wyclif Jer. vii. 18 That thei make sweete cakis to the quen of heuene. 1508Dunbar Gold. Targe 73 Thare saw I Nature, and [als dame] Venus quene. 1500–20― Poems xlviii. 63 Haill princes Natur, haill Venus luvis quene. 1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 251 Poor queen of love, in thine own law forlorn! 1608― Per. ii. iii. 30 By Juno, that is queen of marriage. 1629Milton Ode Nativity 201 Mooned Ashtaroth, Heavn's Queen and Mother both. 1809in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1810) XIII. 328 O Venus, Queen of Drury Lane. a1822Shelley Hom. Venus 13 Diana, golden-shafted queen.
c. Applied to a woman as a term of endearment and honour.
1588Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 41 O Queene of Queenes, how farre dost thou excell, No thought can thinke. 1596― Merch. V. ii. i. 12, I would not change this hue, Except to steale your thoughts, my gentle Queene. 1865Ruskin Sesame 185 Queens you must always be; queens to your lovers; queens to your husbands and your sons.
d. A woman who has pre-eminence or authority in a specified sphere. † Queen of the Bean: see bean n. 6 c. Queen of Hearts (cf. 8 b). Queen of the May: see May. See also beauty queen s.v. beauty n. III b, etc. Also, a woman who has pre-eminence in an unspecified sphere.
1596Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 171, I was the lord of this fair mansion..Queen o'er myself. 1608― Per. ii. iii. 17 Come, queen o' the feast, For, daughter, so you are. c1645Howell Lett. ii. xii. (1650) 13 The Lady Elizabeth, which..is called..for her winning Princely comportment, the Queen of Hearts. 1652J. Wright tr. Camus' Nat. Paradox iii. 53 Shee thought to triumph over all her Competitors and be Queen of the Bean. 1816Keats To my Brother George 87 Upon a morn in May..that lovely lass Who chosen is their queen. a1822Shelley Chas. I, ii. 394 The Twelfth-night Queen of Hearts. 1830Tennyson Isabel ii, Isabel..The queen of marriage, a most perfect wife. 1847C. Brontë J. Eyre II. i. 14 Most of them..looked handsome; but Miss Ingram was certainly the queen. 1858Lytton What will He do i. xiv, Lady Selina Vipont was one of the queens of London. 1958Spectator 22 Aug. 247/1 A robust, jolly-looking person, more like a hockey queen than a film star. 1962E. Lucia Klondike Kate 9 Rare instances of chivalry and devotion were exhibited by the miners toward this frontier queen. 1979C. MacLeod Family Vault (1980) xxiv. 213 She decided to become a society queen and married a man who had the cash but not the inclination.
e. slang. An attractive woman; a girl-friend, female partner.
1900Dialect Notes II. 53 Queen,..an attractive girl. 1914‘High Jinks, Jr.’ Choice Slang 17 Queen, a pretty girl. ‘A Beauty’. 1937J. T. Farrell Fellow Countrymen 181 Wouldn't it be luck if a ritzy queen fell for him! 1944C. Himes Black on Black (1973) 196 My queen 'gan bouncin' out her twelve-dollar dress. 1952S. Selvon Brighter Sun x. 207 Same ting happen wen my old queen was sick. 1955P. 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’. 1975Globe & Mail (Toronto) 11 June 3/7 Since some of the members have no respect for the law, they refuse to enter into a legal marriage. They view it as an unnecessary burden and responsibility. Instead, some Rastafarians have many ‘Queens’.
6. Applied to things:
a. Anything personified as a woman and looked upon as the chief, esp. the most excellent or beautiful, of its class.
a1050Liber Scintill. xvii. (1889) 84 Ealdorlicra leahtra cwen and modor ofermodignyss ys. a1225St. Marher. 19 Meiðhad þe is cwen of alle mihtes. 1340Ayenb. 10 Þe kuen of uirtues, dame charite. 1508Dunbar Gold. Targe 82 There saw I May, of myrthfull monethis quene. 1563Foxe A. & M. 333/2 That noble ground and quene of prouinces. 1604E. G[rimstone] D' Acosta's Hist. Indies ii. vi. 93 This river (which in my opinion, deserves well the name of Empresse and Queene of all flouds). a1720Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.) Wks. (1753) I. 6 Paris, the queen of cities. 1861S. Thomson Wild Fl. iii. (ed. 4) 286 The ‘lady fern’..sometimes called the ‘Queen of Ferns’. 1886E. Miller Text. Guide 75 The Peshito has been called ‘The Queen of Versions’.
b. That which in a particular sphere has pre-eminence comparable to that of a queen. queen of heaven, night, the tides, the moon; queen of puddings, a pudding made of breadcrumbs, milk, and other ingredients, freq. with a layer of meringue on top; queen-of-the-meadow(s, (a) the meadow-sweet, Filipendula ulmaria, native to Europe and Asia and naturalized in eastern North America; (b) U.S. = joe-pye weed; queen-of-the-night, a variety of night-blooming cereus (see night n. 14), esp. Selenicereus grandiflorus, which is native to the West Indies and bears fragrant white flowers; queen-of-the-prairie, a perennial North American herb, Filipendula rubra, found in meadows and prairies and bearing clusters of small pink flowers; Queen of the West: Cincinnati, Ohio (cf. Queen City in sense 14 ). Similarly with an of phrase to designate other cities.
1552Lyndesay Monarche Prol. 153 Synthea, the hornit nychtis quene. 1597Gerarde Herbal ii. ccccxix. (1633) 1043 Called in English Meadow Sweet and Queene of the Medowes. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 146 Each your doing..Crownes what you are doing..That all your Actes, are Queenes. 1671Milton P.R. iv. 45 Great and glorious Rome, Queen of the Earth. 1784Mem. Amer. Acad. I. 451 Queen of the Meadows. Blossoms red or purple. In moist pastures. 1812Byron Ch. Har. ii. lxxx, The Queen of tides on high consenting shone. 1835C. 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’. 1838H. Martineau Retrospect II. 254, I should prefer Cincinnati as a residence... The ‘Queen of the West’ is enthroned in a region of wonderful and inexhaustible beauty. 1840Knickerbocker XVI. 157 In this way we glided in our broad-horn past Cincinnati, the ‘Queen of the West’ as she is now called. 1840Alison Hist. Europe li. §52 The Emperor travelled..to Venice: he there admired the marble palaces of the Queen of the Adriatic. 1851San 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. 1852H. R. Noll Bot. Class Bk. & Flora Pennsylvania 100 S[piræa] lobata, Murr. Queen of the Prairie. 1878R. B. Smith Carthage 9 Destined..to become the Queen of the Mediterranean. 1883G. Macdonald Donal Grant ii. 18 Bushes of meadow-sweet, or queen-of-the-meadow, as it is called in Scotland. 1892Amer. Folk-Lore V. 98 Eupatorium purpureum, Queen of the meadow. 1898C. A. Creevey Flowers of Field, Hill & Swamp 146 Queen-of-the-prairie... A stately, beautiful plant adorning the meadows and prairies south and west of Pennsylvania. Ibid. 484 Meadow-sweet. Queen-of-the-meadows... A slender, reddish-stemmed shrub, 2 to 6 feet high. 1911Queen-of-the-meadow [see Indian turnip s.v. Indian a. 4 b]. 1917M. Byron Pudding Book iii. 72 Queen of Puddings... Soak a pint of breadcrumbs in boiling milk, and the yolks of four eggs well beaten. 1920Britton & Millspaugh Bahama Flora 294 Selenicereus grandiflorus... Queen-of-the-Night. Often cultivated. 1949H. Hornsby Lonesome Valley xxii. 291 The wind was working among the alder bushes and the willows and queen of the meadow. 1963M. Patten Puddings & Desserts (recipe no. 389) Queen of puddings. 1968Peterson & McKenny Field Guide to Wildflowers N. Amer. 284 Queen-of-the-prairie... Flowers deep pink. 1971Fashion Panorama (Ceylon) Apr.–June 21 The Queen of the night was in full bloom outside and its heavy and overpowering scent reached her from the garden. 1972E. Wigginton Foxfire Bk. 242 Take one root from a queen-of-the-meadow plant. 1977H. 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.
7. The perfect female of bees, wasps, or ants.
1609C. Butler Fem. Mon. 1 Of the nature and properties of Bees, and of their Queene. a1711Ken Sion Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 352 The same Tune..In which the Bees..For their Dismission to their Queen entreat. 1724Derham in Phil. Trans. XXXIII. 54 The Male Wasps are lesser than the Queens. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VIII. 124 The working ants having..deposed their queens. 1847Tennyson Princ. i. 39 Around them both Sweet thoughts would swarm as bees about their queen. 1892Lubbock Beaut. Nat. 60 The working Ants and Bees always turn their heads towards the Queen.
8. In games.
a. In chess: The piece which has greatest freedom of movement, and hence is most effective for defending the king, next to which it is placed at the beginning of the game. Also, the position on the board attained by a pawn when it is queened (see queen v. 4).
queen's bishop, queen's knight, queen's pawn, etc.: cf. king 9 a. queen's gambit: see gambit. † to make a queen = queen v. 4.
c1440Gesta Rom. xxi. 71 (Harl. MS.) The fifthe [piece] is þe quene, that goth fro blak to blak, or fro white to white, and is yset beside þe kyng. 1474Caxton Chesse ii. ii. B iij b, Thus ought the Quene be maad; She ought to be a fayr lady sittyng in a chayer [etc.]. 1562J. Rowbotham Playe of Cheasts C v, Thou shalte playe thy queenes Paune one steppe geuing him checke by discouery of thy queenes Bishoppe. 1597G. B. Ludus Schacciæ A 4 When he [the pawn] can..arrive at the last ranke of his enemies he is chosen and made..the Queene. a1689Yng. Statesmen vi. in Coll. Poems Popery 8/2 So have I seen a King on Chess..His Queen and Bishops in distress. 1735Bertin Chess 38 The Queens Gambet, which gives a Pawn with a design to catch her adversary's Queen's Rook. 1761Hoyle Chess 51 The exact Number of Moves, before you can make a Queen. 1773Philidor Chess Analysed 13 The King's Pawn makes a Queen, and wins the Game. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) IV. 640 He should take the adversary's pawns, and move the others to queen. 1822W. Lewis Elem. Game Chess 149 If a Pawn be on a Rook's file it will go to Queen. 1838Lytton Alice 169, I think I will take the queen's pawn. 1894J. Mason Principles Chess 77 Just as the foremost [Pawn] is but a square from Queen.
b. In ordinary playing-cards: A card bearing the figure of a queen, of which there are four in each pack, ranking next to the kings.
1575Gamm. Gurton ii. ii. 29 There is five trumps beside the queene. 1607Heywood Wom. Killed w. Kindn. Wks. 1874 II. 123 This Queene I haue more then my owne..Giue me the stocke. 1712–4Pope Rape of Lock iii. 88 The Knave of Diamonds..wins..the Queen of Hearts. 1791Gentl. Mag. 141 The Queen of Clubs is called in Northamptonshire, Queen Bess. 1816Singer Hist. Cards 39 Like the Italians and Germans, they [the Spaniards] have no Queen in the Pack. 1885R. A. Proctor Whist 5, I lead Ace, and follow with Queen of my best suit.
9. Technical uses.
a. pl. One of the classes into which fullers' teasels are sorted (see quot.).
1813T. 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.
b. A roofing-slate, measuring three feet by two.
1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 622 Slaters class the Welsh slates in the following order: Doubles, Ladies,..Queens. 1893J. Brown Open. Railw. to Delabole xxiii, We've countess, duchess, queens and rags.
c. pl. A class of apples, the rennets (q.v.).
1836Loudon Encycl. Plants 426 Apples are classed as pippins or seedlings,..rennets or queens, specked fruits.
10. a. A small scallop, Chlamys opercularis, found off several parts of the coast of north-western Europe; = quin.
1803G. Montagu Testacea Brit. I. 146 Pecten opercularis..in Devonshire and Cornwall is..known by the name of Frills or Queens. 1883N. Joly Man before Metals ii. i. 200 Several molluscs, especially oysters,..mussels, queens, whelks, and snails. 1901E. Step Shell Life 84 The Quin or Queen..is more nearly circular in shape, thin and smooth. 1928Russell & Yonge Seas iii. 74 Another animal which can move about is the scallop, especially the smaller ‘queen’. 1959A. 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. 1971Country Life 21 Oct. 1040/1 Last year nearly 5,000 tons of queens..were brought into Scottish ports.
b. A local name for the smear-dab.
1674Ray Coll. Words, Sea Fishes 100 Queens: a Fish thinner than a Plaise. 1884St. James's Gaz. 18 Jan. 6/1 The..lemon-dab or queen.
11. A female cat. (Cf. queen-cat in 14.)
1898Bishopsgate Cats in Ladies' Field 6 Aug. 378/1 A few outdoor houses for the queens are used. 1934P. Wade Siamese Cat iv. 45 Not only should the queen herself be excellent, but her pedigree must be above suspicion. 1954D. Hartley Food in England 660 You cannot keep a cat on milk only... Nursing queens should be given water to drink and solid food. 1960Amer. Speech XXXV. 300 Cat fanciers use the name queen in speaking of their litter-bearing female cats. 1977Proc. R. Soc. Med. LXX. 3/1 This calcium deficient diet produced..fractures of vertebrae and limb bones in growing kittens and young zoo felids. Calcium deficiency also occurred in lactating queens and their young litters.
12. A male homosexual, esp. the effeminate partner in a homosexual relationship. slang. Cf. quean 3.
1924Truth (Sydney) 27 Apr. 6 Queen, effeminate person. 1929M. Lief Hangover vi. 100 ‘What's those?’ ‘You know—all those queens.’ 1930E. Waugh Vile Bodies 61 ‘Now what may you want, my Italian queen?’ said Lottie as the waiter came in with a tray. 1938N. Marsh Artists in Crime ix. 127 We met the chap that runs the place. One of those die-away queens. 1952A. Wilson Hemlock & After i. v. 88 Anyone would think he was just another routine, harmless old queen. 1962[see faggot, fagot 6 b]. 1971F. Forsyth Day of Jackal xx. 333 He must be..how marvellous! A handsome young butch looking for an old queen to take him home. 1977New Yorker 24 Oct. 64/2 There are only a handful of ‘queens’ at Green Haven at any one time—men with feminine characteristics they do their best to enhance. The queens are usually given women's nicknames.
II. attrib. and Comb.
13. General combs.
a. appositive, as queen-bride, queen-county, queen-galley, queen-moon, queen-rose, queen-spirit, queen-spouse, queen-strumpet, queen-woman.
b. attrib., as queen-craft, queen-features.
c. objective, as queen-killing.
1606Proc. agst. late Traitors 105 That King-killing and Queen-killing was not indeed a doctrine of theirs. 1634Ford Perk. Warbeck iii. ii, This new queen-bride must henceforth be no more My daughter. a1661Fuller Worthies, Kent (1662) I. 67 She [Q. Elizabeth] was well skilled in the Queen-craft. 1820Keats Ode to Nightingale 36 Haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne. 1846Browning Lett. 16 June (1899) II. 241 You must..add the queen-rose to his garland. 1863Atlantic Monthly Oct. 502 The queen-strumpet of modern history. 1880Hay Pike County Ball. 113 The still queen-features glorious In the dawn of love's first gleams. 1888Th. Watts in Athenæum 18 Aug. 224/2 See how the four queen-galleys ride. 1904W. B. Yeats Stories of Red Hanrahan 20, I heard under a ragged hollow wood, A queen-woman dressed out in silver, cry.
14. Special combs.: † queen-apple, an early variety of apple; Queen At, A.T. Mil. slang (see quot. 1943); queen bee, a fully developed female bee; also transf. and fig.; spec. (Mil.) an automatically-controlled aeroplane used as a target in firing practice; queen-bird, a swan; queen-cage, an apparatus for conveying or transferring a queen-bee to a hive; queen-cake, a small currant-cake, usually heart-shaped; queen cat = queen 11; queen-cell, a cell in a bee-hive, in which the queen is reared; Queen City N. Amer., an epithet applied to the chief or pre-eminent city (of a region) (cf. sense 6 b); queen closer, a quarter of a brick, used in building to ‘close’ the end of a course (see closer2 3); queen conch, a large marine shell, Strombus gigas; queen-excluder, a device in a bee-hive to prevent the passage of the queen without excluding the workers; queen-fish, (a) U.S. a small edible fish (Seriphus politus) found along the Pacific coast of America; (b) a large Australian marine fish, Scomberoides sanctipetri, of the family Carangidæ; † queen-gold, a former revenue of the king's consort, consisting of one-tenth on certain fines paid to the king; queen-lily, a Peruvian ornamental flowering plant of the genus Phædranassa (Cent. Dict.); queen olive, the particularly large fruit of certain varieties of olive; queen-pigeon = queen's pigeon (Funk's Stand. Dict.); queen-pin colloq., a woman who controls the (successful) organization of a specified institution or event; (see king-pin); queen pudding = queen's pudding; queen scallop = queen n. 10 a; queen-side a. Chess, of or pertaining to the side of the board in which both queens start the game; queen-size a., of an extra large size, though occas. in a series (as of beds), smaller than king-size; also queen-sized adj.; queen staysail, a triangular main topmast staysail in a schooner yacht (see quot. 1948); queen-stitch, a fancy stitch in embroidery; queen substance, a pheromone produced by a queen bee and given to the colony's workers to prevent the production of more queens; † queen-suit, a set of cards belonging to one suit, of which the queen is the highest; queen trigger-fish, a deep-bodied, blue and yellow marine fish, Balistes vetula, found in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans; queen-truss, a roof-truss in which there are queen-posts; queen-wasp, a perfect female wasp; queenwood, an Australian evergreen tree, Daviesia arborea, of the family Leguminosæ, or its wood.
1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. June 43 Tho would I seeke for *Queene apples vnrype. 1626Bacon Sylva §511 Few Fruits are coloured Red within; The Queen-apple is. 1707Mortimer Husbandry 537 The Queen Apple, those..of the Summer kind, are good Cyder Apples, mix'd with others.
1943Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 54 *Queen At, a Chief Commander of the A[uxiliary] T[erritorial] S[ervice]. 1947N. Streatfeild Grass in Piccadilly 33 That queen A.T. of yours must have been a holy terror.
1609C. Butler Fem. Mon. i. A 3 The *Q[u]eene-bee is a Bee of a comely and stately shape. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Queen-bee, a term given by late writers to what used to be called the king-bee. 1807R. Southey Lett. from England II. xxx. 41 Wherever one of the queen bees of fashion alights, a whole swarm follows her. 1823Byron Juan xiii. xiii, Sweet Adeline, amidst the gay world's hum, Was the Queen-Bee. 1935Sun (Baltimore) 18 July 2/6 King George today saw the British fleet repel an attack by robot planes. The feature of the war game was the fight between the new aircraft guns on the battleship and the radio-controlled ‘queen bee’ flying machines. 1938Times 26 Aug. 11/1 ‘Queen Bees’—pilotless, wireless controlled target machines—were only available at two of the..camps. 1943C. H. Ward-Jackson It's a Piece of Cake 50 The Queen Bee, the Director of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force; or the senior W.A.A.F. officer on a station. 1951A. Christie They came to Baghdad xv. 139, I thought it was just some female who was coming out to boss things. A kind of Queen Bee. 1956N. Streatfeild Judith i. 44 Beatrice became a queen bee in London's civil defence force. 1960P. Stanton Village of Stars 63 She walked into the W.R.A.F. sitting-room... There was a little radio in the corner... The Queen Bee had no doubt been wangling the Comforts Fund. 1973G. Bromley Chance to Poison v. 79 She's a very dominating character..Queen Bee of the Women's Institute—without her it would collapse. 1978R. V. Jones Most Secret War xxxix. 356 We had in fact evolved our own ‘Queen Bee’ remote controlled aeroplane for use as an anti-aircraft target in the years before the war.
1830Miss Mitford Village Ser. iv. (1863) 286 Repeating..as we met the *Queen-birds, ‘The swans on fair St. Mary's lake’.
1875J. Hunter Manual Bee-keeping 82 There are many more *Queen cages in use, and..there is no reason why any Bee-keeper should not make modifications.
1769Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 271 To make *Queen Cakes. 1840F. Trollope Widow Married xii, When I've done eating this one queen-cake more. 1894W. B. Yeats Land of Heart's Desire 32, I will have queen cakes when you come to me! 1977Radio Times 12–18 Mar. 16/4 They added a domestic touch by selling their own home produce, little queen cakes and jam.
1691Ray N.-C. Words, Wheen-cat, a *queen-cat. 1893J. Jennings Domestic or Fancy Cats iv. 31 At what age should the queen cat breed? 1960Amer. Speech XXXV. 300 Has this name [sc. queen] arisen from the often-observed imperious bearing of queen cats?
1843Zoologist I. 158, I had the satisfaction of seeing that one *queen-cell had been commenced.
1838B. Drake (title) Tales and sketches from the *Queen City [= Cincinnati]. 1844in C. Cist Cincinnati Misc. (1845) I. 9/1 [Cincinnati] is now familiarly called the Queen City of the West. 1870Colorado Gazetteer 40 Denver, the principal city and capital of Colorado—the Queen City of the Plains— is the county seat of Arapahoe county. 1879Whitman Specimen Days (1882) 147 So much for my feeling toward the Queen City of the plains and peaks [= Denver]. 1880Harper'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 [= San Francisco]. 1943Colorado Mag. Jan. 15 The Queen City of the Plains [= Denver] started in 1878. 1949Bull. Hist. & Philos. Soc. Ohio Apr. 99 That enthusiastic booster for the ‘Queen City’ [= Cincinnati], Dr. Daniel Drake. 1979M. G. Eberhart Bayou Road v. 47 How could the Yankees have injured..New Orleans, the Queen City, so completely.
1842–59Gwilt Archit. (ed. 4) §1896 It becomes necessary near the angles to interpose a quarter brick..called a *queen closer.
1813Sketches Character (ed. 2) I. 130 That *Queen Conch wants only colouring to persuade us it is a real one. 1885A. Brassey The Trades 303 Some years ago the queen-conch (a shell with a delicate pink lining) was in great demand. 1918Chambers's Jrnl. Aug. 541/2 It is the Queen conch my friend has come to buy. 1975M. Humfrey Sea Shells W. Indies i. 29 The powerful Queen Conch..may weigh more than five pounds.
[1881T. 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. ] Ibid. 134/1 *Queen-excluder.1887F. R. Cheshire Bees & Bee-keeping II. iii. 74 This [sc. the restriction of the queen] is now accomplished by what is called ‘excluder-zinc’, or ‘queen-excluder’. 1930W. Herrod-Hempsall Bee-keeping I. ix. 447 The first queen excluder, made from wood, was invented and used in Scotland in 1849. 1976T. Hooper Guide to Bees & Honey iv. 76 A queen-excluder will be necessary for each [hive].
1883J. J. Lalor Cycl. Political Sci. II. 217/2 The *queen-fish, the bagre and the roncador are..well known in California. 1905D. S. Jordan Guide to Study of Fishes II. xx. 354 The queenfish, Seriphus politus, of the California coast, is much like the others of this series... It is a very choice fish. 1937Z. Grey Amer. Angler in Austral. x. 111 The queen fish, a beautiful silvery dolphin-like leaper, is one of the greatest fish I have caught. 1951T. C. Roughley Fish & Fisheries Austral. i. 60 The queenfish has a wide distribution from northern New South Wales to the north⁓west coast of Western Australia, and..is considered to be one of the fastest and most spectacular game-fish. 1965A. J. McClane Stand. Fishing Encycl. 223/1 The queen⁓fish, Seriphus politus, is elongate... Its body is bluish and the fins are yellowish. Growing to about a foot, it occurs from central California to Baja California in shallow water. 1969Northern Territory News (Darwin) Focus '69 63/1 The next biggest catch is the threadfin..followed by the mackerel..and queenfish.
1679Blount Anc. Tenures 36 *Queen-gold is a Royal duty of Ten in the Hundred. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. 221 The queen..is intitled to an antient perquisite called queen-gold or aurum reginae. 1875Stubbs Const. Hist. II. xv. 218 note, In 1255 the citizens refused to pay queen-gold.
1911Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 15 Apr. 10/1 (Advt.), Spanish *Queen Olives, bottle, 50c or $1.00..Rowat's Selected Queen Olives, bottle 50c. 1974Queen olive [see manzanilla 2].
1961Guardian 16 Jan. 4/2 A break for the ‘*queen-pin’..is utterly essential if you are to keep going. 1972Daily Tel. 21 Jan. 13/1 Welcome to Elaine May..not just as a voice but as the queen-pin—director, author and actress.
1891T. F. Garrett Encycl. Pract. Cookery II. 267/2 *Queen pudding. 1971Jean Bowring Cookbook 227 Queen pudding. [Recipe follows].
1959A. C. Hardy Open Sea II. vi. 143 (caption) The *queen scallop..showing the swimming action. 1972Aquaculture I. 280 The fish were fed a mixed diet of fresh or frozen chopped herring and queen scallop (Chlamys opercularis) meat, at a rate of 750 g twice weekly.
1941F. Reinfeld Keres' Best Games of Chess 70/1 Richter prefers to retain the *Queen-side Pawns, even at the cost of exchanging Rooks. 1966J. R. Capablanca Last Chess Lectures (1967) i. 37 His Queen-side majority of Pawns could be converted into a passed Pawn.
1959Punch 28 Oct. 371/1 A motel in Los Angeles advertises *Queen-size beds. 1967Boston 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. 1973Publishers Weekly 23 July 66/3 An appealing and handsomely produced queen-size book. 1976Washington Post 19 Apr. a9/4 (Advt.), Traditionally styled Queen Size Sleep Sofa and matching love-seat combination. 1979Arizona Daily Star 5 Aug. (Advt. Section) 8/8 It is beautifully designed, complete with queen-size bed.
1955Sun (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. 1975A. Bergman Hollywood & Le Vine (1976) ix. 123 A queen⁓sized mattress. 1978New York 3 Apr. 74 (Advt.), And for just $50 more, we'll transform the Sofa into a queen⁓sized sleeper convertible!
1944H. A. Callahan Rigging 130 The late J. Rogers Maxwell introduced a funny little staysail on his famous schooner Queen and it has always been known as the *queen staysail. 1948L. 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.
1631J. Taylor Needles Excellency (1634) sig. A2, col. 2, Bred-stitch, Fisher-stitch, Irish-stitch, and *Queen-stitch. 1841Lady Wilton Art of Needle-work (ed. 3) xx. 317 There are..ferne- and queen-stitches. 1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 192 Queen Stitch.—Also known as Double Square. [Description follows.]
1954C. G. Butler in Trans. R. Entomol. Soc. CV. 14 It is necessary for the bees to have physical contact with their queen in order to obtain this ‘*queen substance’. 1972Sci. Amer. Sept. 56/3 The ‘queen substances’ are outstanding in the complexity and pervasiveness of their role in social organization.
1744Hoyle Piquet 9 The younger-hand is generally to carry Guards to his *Queen-suits. 1778C. Jones Hoyle's Games Impr. 71.
1924J. 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. 1971‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Doctor Bird xii. 166 Bahamian waters are full of extraordinary fish, from Striped Grunts to Queen Triggerfish.
1724Derham in Phil. Trans. XXXIII. 59 The *Queen-Wasps..were weak, and did not buz long. 1827E. Bevan Honey-Bee 187 The queen-wasps were unusually numerous in the spring of that year.
1882Ogilvie (citing Weale), *Queen-wood, a name sometimes given to woods of the greenheart and cocoa-wood character, imported from the Brazils. 1889J. H. Maiden Useful Native Plants Austral. 415 Daviesia arborea..‘Queen-wood’. This wood is hard, close-grained, with beautiful pink streaked lines. 1902G. S. Boulger Wood ii. 300 Queen-wood..North-eastern Australia... Streaked with pink, hard, close-grained, susceptible of a fine polish.
15. Combinations with queen's.
a. In titles or appellations, with the sense of ‘belonging to, in the service of, the queen’, ‘royal’ (cf. king's), as Queen's advocate, Queen's bench, Queen's counsel, Queen's evidence, Queen's highway, Queen's keys, Queen's letter, Queen's messenger, Queen's cpay, Queen's cpeace, Queen's cprison, Queen's cservant, Queen's cspeech, Queen's cwardrobe.
In these terms, as in many of those given under b, the use of queen's in place of king's is largely or entirely a result of the long reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901) or that of Queen Elizabeth II (1952– ).
b. queen's allowance (see quot.); queen's arm, a musket; queen's chair, a makeshift seat (cf. queen's cushion); queen's cloth (?); queen's colours, one of the pair of colours carried by a regiment, the royal colours; queen's conch = queen conch (sense 14); queen's cushion, a seat (for a girl) made by the crossed hands of two persons (Jamieson, 1825); Queen's English, the English language regarded as under the guardianship of the Queen; hence, standard or correct English; † queen's evil = king's evil, scrofula; queen's gambit: see gambit; queen's game: see doublet 3 b; Queen's Guide, a holder of the highest award in Guiding, spec. during the reign of a queen; queen's head, a postage stamp; queen's metal, an alloy of tin, antimony, bismuth, and lead; queen's own, Government property or provisions (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 1867); queen's parade, the quarter-deck (ibid.); queen's pattern (see quots. 1910 and 1957); queen's pigeon, a large and beautiful crested pigeon of the Papuan region, Gaura Victoriæ; queen's pipe, a furnace formerly used for destroying smuggled or damaged tobacco; queen's pudding, a steamed suet pudding (occas. used for queen of puddings, sense 6 b above); Queen's Scout, a holder of the highest award in Scouting, spec. during the reign of a queen; queen's shilling, a shilling formerly given to a recruit when enlisting; also transf. and fig.; queen's staysail = queen staysail; queen's stuff (?); queen's taste: in phr. to the or a queen's taste, to perfection; queen's tobacco pipe = queen's pipe; queen's ware, (a) a cream-coloured kind of Wedgwood ware; (b) a kind of stone-ware; queen's weather, fine weather; queen's woman slang (now Hist.), a prostitute who received medical attention under the terms of the Contagious Diseases Acts of the 1860s; queen's yellow, turpeth mineral, used as a yellow pigment.
1876Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. 320/2 *Queen's allowance, an allowance in aid of the expenses of the officers' mess.
1848Lowell Biglow P. Ser. i. The Courtin', The ole *queen's-arm that gran'ther Young Fetched back from Concord busted.
1965S. T. Ollivier Petticoat Farm vi. 77 Henry's buggy reins, tied to a cream-can lid, had formed a *queen's chair for Harry.
14..Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 607/19 Regilla, a *Quenyscloth. 1818M. 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.
1812E. 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. 1963Times 27 Apr. 11/2 The pink queen's conch shell from the Caribbean.
1825J. Jamieson Suppl. to Etym. Dict. of Scottish Lang. II. 253/1 *Queen's, also king's cushion, a mode of carriage, whether in sport, or from necessity... Two persons, each of whom grasps his right wrist with his left hand, with the other lays hold of his neighbour's wrist, so as to form a seat of four hands and wrists conjoined. On these the person, who is to be carried, seats himself, or is seated by others, putting both his arms, for greater security, round the necks of the bearers. 1873C. M. Yonge Pillars of House IV. xl. 161 The hands were clasped, queen's-cushion fashion, beneath her, the necks were bent for the arms to be thrown round them.
1592T. Nashe Strange Newes sig. B1v, He must be running on the letter, and abusing the *Queenes English without pittie or mercie. 1848[see on prep. 6 a]. 1864H. Alford Plea for Queen's Eng. (ed. 2) 2 The Queen's English is not an unmeaning phrase, but one which may serve to teach us some profitable lessons with regard to our language. 1867F. S. Cozzens Sayings of Dr. Bushwhacker 82 In fact, that arbitrary style of speaking which is commonly known as the Queen's English. 1885Punch 4 July 5/2 (heading) The Premier's Primer; or Queen's English as she is wrote. 1902F. Hume Fever of Life 146, I! Oh, how can you? I speak the Queen's English. 1975Verbatim Dec. 15/2 One irate caller said, according to the network [NKH], ‘How dare you deprive us of our one chance to hear the Queen's English?’
1597A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 19/2 The curinge of *Queenes evil. 1600Surflet Countrie Farme i. xii. 58 For the Queenes euill [margin The Kinges euill].
c1554Interlude of Youth C iij, I can teache you to play at the dice, At the *quenes game and at the Iryshe. a1618J. Davies Wittes Pilgr. (1878) 32 (D.) Here Love at tick-tack plaies, or at Queen's-game, But Irish hates.
1968M. 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. 1976Milton Keynes Express 9 July 5/7 Three North Bucks girls received Queen's Guides awards at Milton Keynes College of Education, Wolverton, on Tuesday evening.
1840Chambers's Edin. 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. 1844Alb. Smith Adv. Mr. Ledbury xv. (1886) 45 Notes it would not do to stick a penny Queen's Head upon. 1860C. M. Yonge Stokesley Secret i. (1861) 16, I must have a queen's-head to write to Mamma. 1879Trollope John Caldigate III. x. 132 That stamp, that effigy, that two⁓penny queen's-head. 1915Chambers's Jrnl. Sept. 599/1 When the new stamp was introduced it was invariably called the ‘queen's head’.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 952 *Queen's metal..serves also for teapots and other domestic utensils. 1856Miller Inorg. Chem. II. 930 Another alloy, which is intermediate in properties between pewter and Britannia metal, is called Queen's metal.
1769Catal. 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. 1910R. L. Hobson Worcester Porcelain 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. 1928W. B. Honey Old Eng. Porcelain 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’. 1957Mankowitz & Haggar Encycl. Eng. Pottery & Porcelain 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. 1974K. Royce Trap Spider i. 12 The cutlery was mid-Georgian Queen's pattern.
1882B'ham Weekly Post 2 Jan. 8/4 Abolition of the ‘*Queen's Pipe’.
1884Cassell's Dict. Cookery 675/2 *Queen's Pudding. [Recipe follows.] 1917N. Soyer Standard Cookery 271 Queen's Pudding. Ingredients.—Eight ounces of finely-chopped suet [etc.]. 1935G. Greene Basement Room 9 It was a pudding he liked, Queen's pudding with a perfect meringue.
1955Radio Times 22 Apr. 14 St. George's Parade of *Queen's Scouts. 1962L. Deighton Ipcress File iii. 24 He picked the limp Raven off the..table like a Queen's scout with a rucksack. 1975Scout Handbk. xxix. 274 Beyond the Membership Badge you'll aim for the Venture Award and the Queen's Scout Award.
1877G. W. Godfrey (title) The *Queen's Shilling. 1882J. Ashton Soc. Life Reign Q. Anne II. 203 The Queen's shilling once being taken..there was no help for the recruit, unless he was bought out. 1975N. Luard Travelling Horseman vi. 161 If you've had enough of the Queen's shilling, try Pat Foley. 1976Listener 1 Apr. 403/2 He took the Queen's shilling and joined the Royal West Kents..as a private soldier.
1926Yachting Monthly XLI. 244/1 Above the mainstay⁓sail was another triangular sail, commonly known as a ‘*Queen's’ staysail.
1766W. Gordon Gen. Counting-ho. 428, 16 fine brocaded *queens stuffs. 1845S. Judd Margaret ii. xi. 358 Rose had on..a queens-stuff habit of the same colour.
1902W. N. Harben Abner Daniel xxxiii. 279 You worked 'im to a *queen's taste—as fine as spilt milk. 1911R. 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.
1843Penny Cycl. XXV. 17 The damaged tobacco thus removed is consumed in a furnace..jocularly termed the ‘*queen's tobacco-pipe’.
1767J. Wedgwood Sel. Lett. (1965) 58 The demand for this said Creamcolour, Alias *Queens Ware, Alias Ivory still increases. 1782Wedgwood in Phil. Trans. LXX. 320 Delft ware is fired by a heat of 40 or 41°; cream-coloured or Queen's ware, by 86°. 1792A. Young Trav. France 79 English goods..hard and queen's ware; cloths and cottons. 1863W. Chaffers Marks & Monograms on Pott. & Porc. 120 The principal inventions of Wedgwood were, 1, the cream-coloured table ware, afterwards called Queen's ware; [etc.]. 1872‘Mark 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. 1884Health Exhib. Catal. 49/2 Sanitary appliances in action, and general Queen's Ware. 1897[see merchant n. 1 d]. 1900F. Litchfield Pottery & Porcelain iii. 32 [Thomas Whieldon's] celebrated cream ware, called ‘Queen's ware’. 1906Dialect Notes III. 152 Queensware.., ordinary crockery. ‘You can get queensware at Hansard's grocery or the ten-cent store.’ 1961Connoisseur New Guide to Antique Eng. Pottery, Porcelain & Glass 54 [Wedgwood's] Queensware was copied by most of the potters of his time.
1851Illustr. London News 7 June 512/2 The ‘*Queen's weather’, as it has been styled, did not hold good to-day, for..the rain began to come down. 1893S. Grand Heavenly Twins I. ii. iv. 234 ‘Queen's weather!’ he remarked. ‘Yes,’ she answered, looking out at the sparkling water. 1899Johannesburg Star (weekly ed.) 22 Apr., Although the wind is rather high, Queen's weather prevails. 1937M. 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 [1897]. 1979G. St. Aubyn Edward VII v. 251 There could hardly have been a more convincing demonstration of ‘Queen's Weather’ than on..the day of the Diamond Jubilee... The sun burst through the clouds.
1871Rep. R. 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. 1981F. 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.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 1054 *Queen's Yellow is an antient name of Turbith Mineral, or yellow subsulphate of mercury. 1851–61Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 70 When canaries are ‘a bad colour’..they are re-dyed, by the application of..‘Queen's Yellow’.
c. in names of plants, as † queen's balm, alyssum; queen's berry, the cloudberry, Rubus Chamæmorus; queen's cushion, cut-leaved saxifrage (Treas. Bot. 1866); queen's delight, an American euphorbiaceous plant, Stillingia sylvatica (ibid.); queen's flower, an Indian tree (Lagerstrœmia Flos-Reginæ) with beautiful rose-coloured flowers (Cent. Dict. 1891); queen's gilliflower or July-flower, dame's violet, Hesperis Matronalis; † queen's herb , tobacco (see queen-mother 4); queen's lace U.S., the wild carrot or Queen Anne's lace, Daucus carota; queen's pincushion, the flowers of the guelder rose (Cassell's Encycl. Dict. 1886); queen's root = queen's delight (Mayne Expos. Lex. 1858); queen's violet = queen's gilliflower.
1767Abercrombie Ev. Man his own Gardener (1803) 735/1 List of Hardy Annuals..Alysson, or mad-wort, *Queen's Balm.
1861S. Thomson Wild Fl. iii. (ed. 4) 221 It is the cloud-berry or *queen's-berry.
1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 96 Herbes, branches, and flowers, for windowes and pots. *Queenes gilleflowers. 1597Gerarde Herbal ii. cxxii. (1633) 461 Dames Violets or Queenes Gillofloures. 1760J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 324 Queen's July-flower.
1577Frampton Joyfull Newes ii. lxxvi. 42 Some haue called this Hearbe the *Queenes herbe, because it was firste sente vnto her. [1894S. Weyman Man in Black 60 You take the Queen's herb, you sneeze.]
1906M. E. W. Freeman By Light of Soul 52 The fields..were white and gold with *queen's lace and golden rod. 1947L. M. Beebe Mixed Train Daily 88 This freight train, carrying its passengers in the caboose and wading pleasantly through springtime Arkansas meadows brave with daisies and queen's lace, is the Graysonia, Nashville and Ashdown's morning redball.
1731Miller Gard. Dict. Index (1733), *Queen's Violet, vide Hesperis.
▪ II. queen, v.|kwiːn|
[f. prec.]
1. a. to queen it: To be a queen; to act or rule as queen; to have pre-eminence like a queen.
1611Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 460 Ile Queene it no inch farther, But milke my Ewes, and weepe. 1613― Hen. VIII, ii. iii. 37 A threepence bow'd would hire me Old as I am, to Queene it. 1790Burns Prol. Theatre Dumfries 2 Yon great city That queens it o'er our taste. 1818Milman Samor 7 Her milk-white neck embour'd in arching spray, Queens it along the waters. 1826Scott Woodst. xxvi, The imperious Vashti is left to queen it in solitude. 1894F. M. Elliot Roman Gossip vi. 181 Josephine was queening it at the Tuileries.
b. absol. in same sense. rare.
1843Lytton Last Bar. iv. ii, ‘I can scarce queen while Warwick is minister’, said Elizabeth.
2. trans. To make (a woman) a queen. Also fig.
1843Lytton Last Bar. ii. i, This Dame Woodville, whom I queened. 1880Lady Martin Shaks. Fem. Char. 120 That passionate childlike loving queens her in his sight.
3. To rule over as a queen.
1839Bailey Festus xvi. (1852) 182 As the moon doth Queen the night. 1843E. Jones Poems, Sens. & Event 115 His will, a trembling rudder She held to play with, or to queen.
4. Chess.
a. To advance (a pawn) to the opponent's end of the board, where it acquires the power of, and is replaced by, a queen or such other piece as the player may choose. Also absol.
1789Twiss Chess II. 155 Damer le Pion, literally to queen the Pawn, is a French expression. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) IV. 640 note, To queen is to make a queen. 1808Studies Chess I. 219 The pawn is queened, and wins the game. 1848H. R. Agnel Chess 63 You..queen your Pawn, and instead of claiming a Queen, you take a Knight. 1894J. Mason Principles Chess 88 That the player who Queens first wins is a rule.
b. intr. Of a pawn: To reach the position at which it acquires the power of a queen.
1842Chess Exemplified 78 If the pawn have the move—it will queen. 1894J. Mason Principles Chess 61 Attacking the Pawn, and taking it on the next move, whether it queens or not.
5. To supply (a hive) with a queen-bee.
1884Bee-keeping (Brit. Bee-keepers' Assoc.) 27 The bees came up..I lifted the card, she was welcomed, and the hive was now queened.
Hence queened ppl. a.
1860Staunton Chess Praxis iv. 43 White can win the game by converting a ‘Queened Pawn’ into a Bishop. |