I. queen 1 S2 W2 /kwiːn/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: cwen 'woman, queen' ]
1 . RULER ( also Queen )
a) the female ruler of a country ⇨ king
queen of
Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt
Queen Elizabeth
At 18, Victoria was crowned queen (=officially became ruler) .
b) the wife of a king:
the future queen
2 . CARD a playing card with a picture of a queen on it:
the queen of diamonds
3 . the queen of something the woman or place that is considered the best in a particular area or activity:
With 42 albums, she was the queen of pop.
Paris, the queen of fashion
4 . COMPETITION American English the woman who wins a beauty competition, or who is chosen to represent a school, area etc:
the carnival queen
5 . INSECT a large female ↑ bee , ↑ ant etc, which lays the eggs for a whole group
6 . queen bee a woman who behaves as if she is the most important person in a place
7 . HOMOSEXUAL taboo informal an offensive word for a male ↑ homosexual who behaves very like a woman. Do not use this word.
8 . CHESS the most powerful piece in the game of ↑ chess
⇨ ↑ beauty queen , ↑ drag queen
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ become queen
Mary Tudor became queen in 1553.
▪ crown somebody queen (=officially make someone queen)
The next day she was crowned Queen of England.
▪ a queen rules/reigns (=is in charge of a country)
Queen Victoria reigned for over 60 years.
▪ a queen abdicates (=gives up the position of being queen)
The Queen is unlikely to abdicate.
■ phrases
▪ the reign of Queen Elizabeth/Victoria etc (=when Elizabeth etc was queen)
She was born in the reign of Queen Victoria.
▪ Her Majesty the Queen (=used when talking about a queen)
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting Australia in July.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ king the male ruler of a country, who comes from a royal family:
George III was the king of England at that time.
|
King Harald V of Norway
▪ queen a woman who rules a country because she is from a royal family, or the wife of a king:
She became queen when she was only 14 years old.
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Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
▪ monarch a king or queen:
The bishops were appointed by the monarch.
▪ monarchy a country that is ruled by a king or queen, or this type of political system:
Britain is a constitutional monarchy.
|
Some people want the monarchy to be abolished.
▪ prince the son of a king, queen, or prince, or the male ruler of a small country or state:
Prince Rainier of Monaco
|
The prince will inherit the throne when his father dies.
▪ ruler someone such as a king, who has official power over a country and its people:
the ruler of Babylonia
|
General Musharraf was the former military ruler of Pakistan.
▪ emperor the ruler of an ↑ empire (=group of countries) :
the Habsburg emperors of the 19th century
|
Emperor Hirohito
▪ sovereign formal a king or queen:
It was hoped that a meeting of the two sovereigns would ease tensions between the countries.
▪ regent someone who governs instead of a king or queen, because the king or queen is ill, absent, or still a child:
Edward II left his friend Gaveston as regent.
▪ the crown formal the position of king or queen:
Warwick was a loyal servant of the crown.
II. queen 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
1 . technical to change a ↑ pawn into a queen in the game of ↑ chess
2 . queen it over somebody British English informal if a woman queens it over other people, she behaves as if she is more important than them, in an annoying way