queen
    n 1: 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, queen regnant,
       female monarch] [ant: Rex, king, male monarch]
    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,
       queen, world-beater]
    6: offensive term for an openly homosexual man [syn: fagot,
       faggot, fag, fairy, nance, pansy, queen, 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: an especially large mole rat and the only member of a colony
       of naked mole rats to bear offspring which are sired by only
       a few males [syn: queen, queen mole rat]
    10: female cat [syn: tabby, queen]
    v 1: promote to a queen, as of a pawn in chess
    2: become a queen; "her pawn queened"

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]221. See Quean.]
   1. The wife of a king.
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   2. A woman who is the sovereign of a kingdom; a female
      monarch; as, Elizabeth, queen of England; Mary, queen of
      Scots.
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            In faith, and by the heaven's quene.  --Chaucer.
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   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.
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   4. The fertile, or fully developed, female of social bees,
      ants, and termites.
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   5. (Chess) The most powerful, and except the king the most
      important, piece in a set of chessmen.
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   6. A playing card bearing the picture of a queen; as, the
      queen of spades.
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   Queen apple. [Cf. OE. quyne aple quince apple.] A kind of
      apple; a queening. "Queen apples and red cherries."
      --Spenser.

   Queen bee (Zool.), a female bee, especially the female of
      the honeybee. See Honeybee.

   Queen conch (Zool.), 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 (Zool.), 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. (Zool.) 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.
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Queen \Queen\, v. i.
   To act the part of a queen. --Shak.
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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.
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Queen
   No explicit mention of queens is made till we read of the "queen
   of Sheba." The wives of the kings of Israel are not so
   designated. In Ps. 45:9, the Hebrew for "queen" is not _malkah_,
   one actually ruling like the Queen of Sheba, but _shegal_, which
   simply means the king's wife. In 1 Kings 11:19, Pharaoh's wife
   is called "the queen," but the Hebrew word so rendered (g'birah)
   is simply a title of honour, denoting a royal lady, used
   sometimes for "queen-mother" (1 Kings 15:13; 2 Chron. 15:16). In
   Cant. 6:8, 9, the king's wives are styled "queens" (Heb.
   melakhoth).
   
     In the New Testament we read of the "queen of the south",
   i.e., Southern Arabia, Sheba (Matt. 12:42; Luke 11:31) and the
   "queen of the Ethiopians" (Acts 8:27), Candace.
   

QUEEN. There are several kinds of queens in some countries. 1. Queen 
regnant, is a woman who possesses in her own right the executive power of 
the country. 
     2. Queen consort, is the wife of a king.
     3. Queen dowager is the widow of a king. In the United States there is 
no one with this title. 

QUEEN, n.  A woman by whom the realm is ruled when there is a king,
and through whom it is ruled when there is not.