queue

The definition of a queue is a file or a line.

(noun)

An example of queue is the line of people at a movie theater box office on the opening night of a big hit.

Queue is defined as to form in a line.

(verb)

An example of queue means to arrange students in a row from tallest to shortest.

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See queue in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

  1. a plait of hair worn hanging from the back of the head; pigtail
  2. Brit. a line or file of persons, vehicles, etc. waiting as to be served
  3. a stored arrangement of computer data or programs, waiting to be processed

Origin: Fr < OFr coue < L coda, var. of cauda, tail

intransitive verb queued, queuing

Brit. to form in or be part of a line or file while waiting to be served, etc.: often with up

See queue in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun
  1. A line of waiting people or vehicles.
  2. A long braid of hair worn hanging down the back of the neck; a pigtail.
  3. Computer Science
    a. A sequence of stored data or programs awaiting processing.
    b. A data structure from which the first item that can be retrieved is the one stored earliest.
intransitive verb queued queued, queu·ing, queues
To get in line: queue up at the box office.

Origin:

Origin: French

Origin: , from Old French cue, tail

Origin: , from Latin cauda, cōda

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Word History: When the British stand in queues (as they have been doing at least since 1837, when this meaning of the word is first recorded in English), they may not realize they form a tail. The French word queue from which the English word is borrowed is a descendant of Latin cōda, meaning “tail.” French queue appeared in 1748 in English, referring to a plait of hair hanging down the back of the neck. By 1802 wearing a queue was a regulation in the British army, but by the mid-19th century queues had disappeared along with cocked hats. Latin cōda is also the source of Italian coda, which was adopted into English as a musical term (like so many other English musical terms that come from Italian). A coda is thus literally the “tail end” of a movement or composition.

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