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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Queen mother

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.

Wiktionary
queen mother

n. A widowed queen consort (a queen dowager) whose son or daughter from that marriage is the reigning monarch.

WordNet
queen mother

n. a queen dowager who is mother of the reigning sovereign

Wikipedia
Queen mother

A Queen mother is a dowager queen who was the mother of the reigning monarch (or an empress mother in the case of an empire). The term has been used in English since at least 1577. It arises in hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also used to describe a number of similar yet distinct monarchical concepts in non-European cultures around the world.

"The Queen Mother" usually refers to Elizabeth The Queen Mother, 1900–2002 (queen, 1936–1952; queen mother, 1952–2002), who was the mother of Queen Elizabeth II, and held the status of queen mother for 50 years.

Usage examples of "queen mother".

But I hear from Ambassador Throckmorton that the regent and queen mother, Catherine, is doing all she can to bring about a settlement.

I have a younger brother who has already gone to Paris to offer his sword to the queen mother on behalf of the Catholics.

I arrived to find them in the very act of arresting her on suspicion of trying to procure the death of the queen mother or the young king or both.

Her Majesty Catherine, the queen mother, and of the Catholic cause that we both serve.

The queen mother has said she shall be moved to a better cell and you will be allowed to see her each day.