What is "queen"

Queen \Queen\, v. i. To act the part of a queen.
--Shak.

Queen \Queen\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Queened; p. pr. & vb. n. Queening.] (Chess.) To make a queen (or other piece, at the player's discretion) of by moving it to the eighth row; as, to queen a pawn.

Queen \Queen\, n. [OE. quen, quene, queen, quean, AS. cw[=e]n wife, queen, woman; akin to OS. qu[=a]n wife, woman, Icel. kv[=a]n wife, queen, Goth. q[=e]ns. [root]22

1. See Quean.] 1. The wife of a king.

2. A woman who is the sovereign of a kingdom; a female monarch; as, Elizabeth, queen of England; Mary, queen of Scots.

   In faith, and by the heaven's quene.
   --Chaucer.

3. A woman eminent in power or attractions; the highest of her kind; as, a queen in society; -- also used figuratively of cities, countries, etc. `` This queen of cities.'' `` Albion, queen of isles.''
   --Cowper.

4. The fertile, or fully developed, female of social bees, ants, and termites.

5. (Chess) The most powerful, and except the king the most important, piece in a set of chessmen.

6. A playing card bearing the picture of a queen; as, the queen of spades.

   Queen apple. [Cf. OE. quyne aple quince apple.] A kind of apple; a queening. ``Queen apples and red cherries.''
   --Spenser.

   Queen bee (Zo["o]l.), a female bee, especially the female of the honeybee. See Honeybee.

   Queen conch (Zo["o]l.), a very large West Indian cameo conch ( Cassis cameo). It is much used for making cameos.

   Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king.
   --Blackstone.

   Queen dowager, the widow of a king.

   Queen gold, formerly a revenue of the queen consort of England, arising from gifts, fines, etc.

   Queen mother, a queen dowager who is also mother of the reigning king or queen.

   Queen of May. See May queen, under May.

   Queen of the meadow (Bot.), a European herbaceous plant ( Spir[ae]a Ulmaria). See Meadowsweet.

   Queen of the prairie (Bot.), an American herb ( Spir[ae]a lobata) with ample clusters of pale pink flowers.

   Queen pigeon (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of very large and handsome crested ground pigeons of the genus Goura, native of New Guinea and the adjacent islands. They are mostly pale blue, or ash-blue, marked with white, and have a large occipital crest of spatulate feathers. Called also crowned pigeon, goura, and Victoria pigeon.

   Queen regent, or Queen regnant, a queen reigning in her own right.

   Queen's Bench. See King's Bench.

   Queen's counsel, Queen's evidence. See King's counsel, King's evidence, under King.

   Queen's delight (Bot.), an American plant ( Stillinqia sylvatica) of the Spurge family, having an herbaceous stem and a perennial woody root.

   Queen's metal (Metal.), an alloy somewhat resembling pewter or britannia, and consisting essentially of tin with a slight admixture of antimony, bismuth, and lead or copper.

   Queen's pigeon. (Zo["o]l.) Same as Queen pigeon, above.

   Queen's ware, glazed English earthenware of a cream color.

   Queen's yellow (Old Chem.), a heavy yellow powder consisting of a basic mercuric sulphate; -- formerly called turpetum minerale, or Turbith's mineral.

Old English cwen "queen, female ruler of a state, woman, wife," from Proto-Germanic *kwoeniz (cognates: Old Saxon quan "wife," Old Norse kvaen, Gothic quens), ablaut variant of *kwenon (source of quean), from PIE *gwen- "woman, wife" supposedly originally "honored woman" (cognates: Greek gyné "a woman, a wife;" Gaelic bean "woman;" Sanskrit janis "a woman," gná "wife of a god, a goddess;" Avestan jainish "wife;" Armenian kin "woman;" Old Church Slavonic zena, Old Prussian genna "woman;" Gothic qino "a woman, wife; qéns "a queen").\n

\nThe original sense seems to have been "wife," specialized by Old English to "wife of a king." In Old Norse, still mostly of a wife generally, as in kvan-fang "marriage, taking of a wife," kvanlauss "unmarried, widowed," kvan-riki "the domineering of a wife." English is one of the few Indo-European languages to have a word for "queen" that is not a feminine derivative of a word for "king." The others are Scandinavian: Old Norse drottning, Danish dronning, Swedish drottning "queen," in Old Norse also "mistress," but these also are held to be ultimately from male words, such as Old Norse drottinn "master."\n

\nUsed of chess piece from mid-15c. (as a verb in chess, in reference to a pawn that has reached the last rank, from 1789), of playing card from 1570s. Of bees from c.1600 (until late 17c., they generally were thought to be kings; as in "Henry V," I.ii); queen bee in a figurative sense is from 1807. Meaning "male homosexual" (especially a feminine and ostentatious one) first certainly recorded 1924; probably here an alteration of quean, which is earlier in this sense. Queen Anne first used 1878 for "style characteristic of the time of Queen Anne of Great Britain and Ireland," who reigned 1702-14. Cincinnati, Ohio, has been the Queen City (of the West) since 1835.

n. 1 A female monarch. Example: (w: Queen Victoria) 2 The wife or widow of a king. 3 (context chess English) The most powerful piece, able to move any number of spaces horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. 4 (context card games English) A playing card with the picture of a queen on its face, the twelfth card in a given suit. 5 A powerful or forceful female person. 6 (context derogatory slang English) An effeminate male homosexual. See drag queen. 7 A reproductive female animal in a hive, such as an ant, bee, termite or wasp. 8 An adult female cat valued for breeding. See also tom. 9 A queen olive. vb. 1 To make a queen. 2 (context intransitive obsolete English) To act the part of a queen; to queen it. 3 (context chess English) To promote a pawn, usually to a queen. 4 (context BDSM slang transitive of a female English) To sit on the face of (a partner) to receive oral sex.

1. v. promote to a queen, as of a pawn in chess

2. become a queen; "her pawn queened"

1. n. the only fertile female in a colony of social insects such as bees and ants and termites; its function is to lay eggs

2. a female sovereign ruler [syn: queen regnant, female monarch] [ant: king, king]

3. the wife or widow of a king

4. something personified as a woman who is considered the best or most important of her kind; "Paris is the queen of cities"; "the queen of ocean liners"

5. a competitor who holds a preeminent position [syn: king, world-beater]

6. offensive terms for an openly homosexual man [syn: fagot, faggot, fag, fairy, nance, pansy, queer, poof, poove, pouf]

7. one of four face cards in a deck bearing a picture of a queen

8. (chess) the most powerful piece

9. especially large and only member of a colony of naked mole rats to bear offspring sired by only a few males

10. female cat [syn: tabby]

Queen may refer to:

Queen is a subway station on the Yonge–University line in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located under Yonge Street north from Queen Street to Shuter Street. Wi-fi service is available at this station.

The Queen was a Canadian automobile manufactured in Toronto between 1901 and 1903 by the Queen City Cycle & Motor Works. The car was a 4-seater powered by an 823cc single-cylinder engine mounted under the front seat.

The clutch and gearbox were so rough that passengers were sometimes thrown out.

In 1903 company president Cornelius Ryerson gave up on the company and purchased a Cadillac.

The Queen was an English automobile produced from 1904 to 1905. "The car for the million or the millionaire", it was sold by Horner & Sons of Mitre Square, London. Models of 12 and 16 hp were offered; prices ranged from 235 guineas to 275 guineas.

The Queen was an American automobile manufactured between 1904 and 1907 in Detroit, Michigan. Built by the C.H. Blomstrom Motor Company, Queens were chain-driven, and were one-, two-, or four-cylinder cars. The 1906 Queen was available as a 14 hp and 18 hp twin or as a 26/28 hp four.

In gay slang, queen is a term used to refer to flamboyant or effeminate gay man. The term can either be pejorative or celebrated as a type of self-identification.

Queen is the fifth album by Japanese Kaya released on April 20, 2011.

Queen may refer to the following sailing vessels:

• Queen (1773 ship), transported convicts as part of the third fleet.
• Queen (East Indiaman), which lists five ships that sailed for the British East India Company between about 1701 and about 1802.

Queen are a British rock band that formed in London in 1970. Their classic line-up was Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (lead guitar, vocals), Roger Taylor (drums, vocals), and John Deacon (bass guitar). Queen's earliest works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal, but the band gradually ventured into more conventional and radio-friendly works by incorporating further styles, such as arena rock and pop rock, into their music.

Before forming Queen, Brian May and Roger Taylor had played together in a band named Smile. Freddie Mercury (then known by his birth name of Farrokh "Freddie" Bulsara) was a fan of Smile and encouraged them to experiment with more elaborate stage and recording techniques. Mercury joined the band in 1970, suggested "Queen" as a new band name, and adopted his familiar stage name. John Deacon was recruited before the band recorded their eponymous debut album in 1973. Queen first charted in the UK with their second album, Queen II, in 1974, but it was the release of Sheer Heart Attack later that year and A Night at the Opera in 1975 which brought them international success. The latter featured " Bohemian Rhapsody", which stayed at number one in the UK for nine weeks and popularised the music video. Their 1977 album News of the World contained " We Will Rock You" and " We Are the Champions", which have become anthems at sporting events. By the early 1980s, Queen were one of the biggest stadium rock bands in the world. Their performance at the 1985 Live Aid concert has been ranked among the greatest in rock history by various music publications, and the best in a 2005 industry poll. In 1991, Mercury died of bronchopneumonia, a complication of AIDS, and Deacon retired in 1997. Since then, May and Taylor have occasionally performed together.

The band have released a total of 18 number-one albums, 18 number-one singles, and 10 number-one DVDs. Estimates of their record sales generally range from 150 million to 300 million records, making them one of the world's best-selling music acts. Queen received the Outstanding Contribution to British Music Award from the British Phonographic Industry in 1990. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

The queen (♕,♛) is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king. Because of the value of a queen, it is sometimes used as bait to lure an opponent into a trap by a queen sacrifice. Another tactic is to use the queen to threaten the opponent's queen, to either retreat or to exchange the queen (losing both of them) to reduce the game to less powerful pieces. The queen is often used in conjunction with another piece, such as teamed with a bishop or rook, where the pieces could guard each other while threatening the opponent pieces.

With the chessboard oriented correctly, the white queen starts on a white square and the black queen starts on a black square. (Thus the mnemonics "queen gets her color", or "queen on [her] [own] color", or "the dress [queen piece] matches the shoes [square]", Latin "servat regina colorem".) In algebraic notation, the white queen starts on d1 and the black queen starts on d8. Because the queen is the most powerful piece, when a pawn is promoted, it is almost always promoted to a queen.

In the game shatranj, the ancestor of chess included only male figures, the closest thing to the queen being the “vizier”, a weak piece only able to move or capture one step diagonally and not at all in any other direction. The modern chess queen gained power in the 15th century in concert with traditions of queenly rule in Europe. Examples of this power shift would be the "end of chivalry" by which Queen Elizabeth I ended the tradition that any knight could create another and made it exclusively the preserve of the monarch.

The piece is archaically known as the minister. In Polish it is known as the Hetman – the name of a major historical military-political office. In Russian it is known as "ferz'" (ферзь). The Arabic name of the piece is Wazïr, the same as in shatranj.

The Queen is a playing card with a picture of a queen on it. In French playing cards, the usual rank of a queen is as if it were 12, that is, between the King and the Jack. In tarot decks, it outranks the Knight which in turn outranks the Jack.

In the game of Hearts, the Queen of Spades is the major card to avoid, and is called a variety of unsavoury names.

French deck manufacturers assigned each court card a particular historical or mythological personage. The Queens in a French deck have assigned names as follows:

Hearts

Diamonds

Spades

Clubs

Queen of hearts fr.svg

Queen of diamonds fr.svg

Queen of spades fr.svg

Queen of clubs fr.svg

Judith,
Biblical figure

Rachel,
Biblical figure

Pallas,
another name for the goddess Athena

Argine,
an anagram of Regina ( Latin for "queen")

Since both King and Queen in the French language begin with the letter R, French queen cards are called Dame (Lady).

The Queen, often referred to as the Evil Queen or the Wicked Queen, is a fictional character and the main antagonist in " Snow White", a fairy tale set in the German countryside, recorded by the Brothers Grimm; similar stories are also known to exist in other countries. Other versions of the Queen appear in "Snow White" derivative works, and the character has also become an archetype for unrelated works of fiction.

The Queen is Snow White's evil and vindictive stepmother who is obsessed with being "the fairest in the land". The young princess Snow White makes her jealous, so the Queen concocts several plans to kill Snow White through the use of witchcraft. A driving force in the story is the Queen's Magic Mirror. In the traditional resolution of the story, the Queen is grotesquely executed for her crimes. The tale is a lesson for young children warning against narcissism and pride. She is often regarded as the most interesting character in "Snow White" and has been extensively analyzed and evaluated by literature scholars and psychologists.

Various other versions of the Queen appear in many subsequent adaptations and continuations of the fairy tale, including novels and films. In these, the Queen is often re-imagined and sometimes portrayed more sympathetically, such as being morally conflicted, or suffering from madness, instead of just being purely evil. In the revisionist stories, she can even become an antihero or a tragic hero. In some instances, she serves as the protagonist or narrator of the story; one such particularly notable version is Disney's version, sometimes known as Queen Grimhilde. The Queen has also become an archetype that inspired several characters featured in the works that are not directly based on the original tale.

Queen is the eponymous debut studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 13 July 1973. It was recorded at Trident Studios and De Lane Lea Music Centre, London, with production by Roy Thomas Baker (as Roy Baker), John Anthony and Queen.

The album was influenced by the hard rock, progressive rock and heavy metal of the day. It covers subjects such as folklore ("My Fairy King") and religion ("Jesus"). Lead singer Freddie Mercury composed five of the ten tracks, guitarist Brian May composed four songs, (including "Doing All Right", which was co-written by Smile band-mate Tim Staffell), and drummer Roger Taylor composed and sang "Modern Times Rock and Roll". The final song on the album is a short instrumental version of " Seven Seas of Rhye". The band included on the album sleeve the comment "And nobody played synthesiser", a purist principle of May's, as some listeners had mistaken their elaborate multi-tracking and effects processed by guitar and vocal sounds as synthesisers. Bass guitarist John Deacon was credited on the sleeve notes of the original vinyl release as "Deacon John", but after its release, he asked to be referred to by his real name.

The queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus) is a North and South American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae with a wingspan of . It is orange or brown with black wing borders and small white forewing spots on its dorsal wing surface, and reddish ventral wing surface fairly similar to the dorsal surface. The ventral hindwings have black veins and small white spots in a black border. The male has a black androconial scent patch on its dorsal hindwings. It is found throughout the tropics and into the temperate regions of the Americas, Asia and Africa. It can be found in a variety of locations: depending on its habitat location, the butterfly can be found in meadows, fields, marshes, deserts, and at the edges of forests.

This species is possibly a close relative to the similarly colored soldier butterfly (or "Tropic queen"; Danaus eresimus); in any case, it is not close to the plain tiger (Danaus chrysippus) as was long believed. There are seven subspecies.

Females lay one egg at a time on larval host plants. Larvae use these plants as a food source, whereas adult butterflies feed mainly on nectar from flowers. Unpalatability to avian predators is a feature of the butterfly; however, its level is highly variable. Unpalatability is correlated with the level of cardenolides obtained via the larval diet, but other compounds like alkaloids also play a part in promoting distastefulness.

Males patrol to search for females, who may mate up to 15 times a day. Male organs called hair-pencils play an important role in courtship, with males with lower hair-pencil levels being selected against. These hair-pencils may be involved in releasing pheromones during courtship that could attract female mates.

Queen (originally The Queen) magazine was a British society publication established by Samuel Beeton in 1861. In 1958, the magazine was sold to Jocelyn Stevens, who dropped the prefix "The" and used it as his vehicle to represent the younger side of the British Establishment, sometimes referred to as the "Chelsea Set" under the editorial direction of Beatrix Miller. In 1964 the magazine gave birth to Radio Caroline, the first daytime commercial pirate radio station serving London, England. Stevens sold Queen in 1968. From 1970 the new publication became known as Harper's & Queen until the name Queen was dropped from the masthead. It is now known as Harper's Bazaar.

Queen is a 2014 Indian comedy-drama film directed by Vikas Bahl and produced by Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, and Madhu Mantena. The film stars Kangana Ranaut in the lead role, with Lisa Haydon and Rajkummar Rao playing supporting roles. Rani, an under-confident Punjabi girl from New Delhi embarks on her honeymoon to Paris and Amsterdam by herself after her fiancé calls off their wedding.

Bahl co-wrote the script of Queen with Chaitally Parmar and Parveez Shaikh. Anvita Dutt Guptan wrote the dialogues for the film. Ranaut, who was encouraged by Bahl to improvise her lines during filming, is credited as an additional dialogue writer. Amit Trivedi provided the musical score and Guptan also wrote the lyrics. Principal photography of the film began in 2012 and took 45 days to complete.

Queen premiered at the Busan International Film Festival and released theatrically on 7 March 2014. The film garnered critical acclaim, with praise directed to the direction, writing, and Ranaut's performance. It is widely considered by critics to be one of the best films of 2014. Made on a budget of , the film earned over at the global box-office, emerging as a commercial success. Queen won several awards. At the 60th Filmfare Awards ceremony, the film won a leading six awards, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actress for Ranaut. At the 62nd National Film Awards ceremony, the film won the Best Hindi Film and Best Actress awards.

At least seven ships with the name Queen served the Honourable East India Company between 1701 and 1839. Most were East Indiamen:

• Queen, 320 tons burthen ( bm), 64 crew and 26 guns; the French captured her at Saint Helena on 1 June 1706. she was on the homeward leg of her second voyage; George Cornwall, her captain, was killed in the action.
• Queen, a ship of 330 tons (bm), 18-22 guns and 60-66 crew, made two voyages to Bombay or Bencoolen between 1715 and 1720. She had been launched on the River Thames for Sir Joseph Martin. She was sold in 1720 into the West Indies and Levant trades.
• Queen, of 499, 804, or 821 tons (bm), was launched by Randall, Rotherhithe, on 24 October 1767. She made five trips to India or China for the company between 1768 and 1784, and was present at the Battle of Porto Praya. She was sold in 1784 for breaking up.
• Queen, of 755 or 801 tons (bm), made four trips to India or China between 1786 and 1800, and on her fifth trip was lost to fire at Salvador, Bahia in 1800.
• Queen, "extra" ship of 484, or 491 tons (bm), was launched in 1795 at Quebec for Urquhart & Co. She made three voyages between 1796 and 1801. She appears to have twice sailed under a letter of marque. The first was issued on 18 February 1796 to Captain Corbyn Morris Venner, and described Queen as having twelve 4 & 6-pounder guns, and a crew of 40. The second was issued on 10 June 1801 to Captain Alfred Nichols and described her as having sixteen 9 and 12-pounder guns and a crew of only 36 men. She then transferred to the West Indies trade. In 1807 she was sailing from Demerara to London when she had to stop at Bermuda as she was in distress. She was surveyed there, condemned as unseaworthy, and was sold for breaking up.

• Queen was a steamship built in 1839 by Pitcher, Northfleet. She was sold for breaking up in 1858.

• Queen was a ketch of 14 guns, launched in 1768 at Bombay Dockyard for the Bombay Marine

Queen is the soundtrack album by Amit Trivedi, to the 2014 Hindi film of the same name directed by Vikas Bahl and starring Kangana Ranaut in lead role. The album features eight tracks in a different array of genres. It was released digitally on 30 January 2014, and physically on 2 February 2014 at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in Mumbai, attended by the cast and crew of the film and preceded by Trivedi's performance.

Trivedi travelled to European cities like Amsterdam and Paris in search of inspiration for the album, while also working on four different film projects at the time. The album received positive reviews from critics. All the tracks are composed by Trivedi and written by Anvita Dutt, with the exception of "Ranjha" written by Raghu Nath, composed by Rupesh Kumar Ram and the producer of the film Anurag Kashyap.