What is "queen bee"

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.

n. 1 A reproductive female (especially the only one) in a colony of bees. 2 (context idiomatic colloquial English) The most important or dominant woman in an organisation or situation.

n. fertile egg-laying female bee

The term "queen bee" is typically used to refer to an adult, mated female that lives in a honey bee colony or hive; she is usually the mother of most, if not all, of the bees in the beehive. The queens are developed from larvae selected by worker bees and specially fed in order to become sexually mature. There is normally only one adult, mated queen in a hive, in which case the bees will usually follow and fiercely protect her.

The term "queen bee" can be more generally applied to any dominant reproductive female in a colony of a eusocial bee species other than honey bees. However, as in the Brazilian stingless bee Schwarziana quadripunctata, a single nest may have multiple queens or even dwarf queens, ready to replace a dominant queen in a case of sudden death.

Queen Bee is a 1955 American film noir drama starring Joan Crawford, John Ireland, Betsy Palmer, and Barry Sullivan. The film was directed by Ranald MacDougall and produced by Jerry Wald, and the screenplay by MacDougall was based upon the novel The Queen Bee, by Edna L. Lee.

The film tells the story about a Southern family dominated by a ruthless woman and the havoc her threats and intimidation cause to those around her.

Queen Bee is the name of six different DC Comics supervillains.

Queen Bee is a graphic novel aimed at middle-schoolers about cliques and popularity, written by Chynna Clugston. The book was one of the American Library Association's book picks for 2006.

A queen bee is the leader of a female group, such as a clique. The term has been applied in several social settings.

'Queen Bee' is the third EP by Little Ghost and the final release by the band as a solo project. Luke Ford from Kill The Raveee provides guitar for two tracks on the album while Sarah Mason from Firefly plays keyboards on the title-track.

A music video was produced for 'Hornets' by Step One Media.

A queen bee is an insect.

Queen bee may also refer to:

• Queen B/Bee, Lil' Kim
• Queen Bee (aircraft), an unmanned aircraft used in World War II
• Queen Bee (comics), the name of four different DC Comics supervillains
• Queen Bee (film), a 1955 film starring Joan Crawford
• Queen Bee (graphic novel), written by Chynna Clugston
• Queen Bee (ship), an 1852 barque that ran aground on Farewell Spit, New Zealand in 1877
• Queen bee (sociology), a term in cliques and social groups
• "Queen Bee", a 1981 Grand Funk Railroad song from Grand Funk Lives
• The Queen Bee, a fairy tale
• Queen Bees (TV series), a reality series that airs on TeenNick
• Queen Bees, a Norwegian musical group made of up of Rita Eriksen, Anita Skorgan and Hilde Heltberg
• Queen Bee Entertainment, a record label
• Queen Bey, Beyonce