queue
noun
\ ËkyĂŒ
\
\
Definition of queue
(Entry 1 of 2)
1
: a braid of hair usually worn hanging at the back of the head
2
: a waiting line especially of persons or vehicles
3a
: a sequence of messages or jobs held in temporary storage awaiting transmission or processing
b
: a data structure that consists of a list of records such that records are added at one end and removed from the other
queue
verb
\ ËkyĂŒ
\
\
queued;
queuing
or queueing
Definition of queue (Entry 2 of 2)
: to arrange or form in a queue (see queue entry 1)
: to line up or wait in a queue
—often used with up
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Synonyms for queue
Synonyms: Noun
column, cue, file, line, range, string, train
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Examples of queue in a Sentence
Noun
The Tiong Bahru hawker center in Singapore might well be my favorite place in the world to start the day. I remember vividly my first visit: I arrived jetlagged and hungry at seven in the morning to find vendors stir-frying greens in gigantic woks, sending up whooshes of smoke fragrant with garlic. Long queues of businessmen and construction workers and families who likely lived in the nearby housing projects snaked from the cash register of each stall. — James Oseland, Saveur, October 2008 Around the time the Soviet Union ceased to exist, I was waiting in the entry queue at Fiumicino Airport in Rome when I noticed a party of several dozen young Russian girls being fast-tracked past a freshly opened control window. — Peter Robb, New York Times Book Review, 25 May 2008 But many more people deserve the Nobel than get it. Krauss should've gotten it years ago. Though by now so many other discoveries have been made that he's farther down in an ever increasing queue. — Carl Djerassi, Cantor's Dilemma, 1989 We were forced to stand in a queue. Three jobs remain in the printer queue.Verb
The World's Food Fair, Boston. October 1896. Admission: 25 cents. Huge crowds throng the Mechanics Hall convention center. Women queue up for free samples from 200 different vendors: cereals, gelatins, extracts, candy, and custards. — Christopher Kimball, Cook's Illustrated, January & February 2008 Nothing hacks off a national lawmaker more than a person who will not wait in line, unless that line is in front of an elevator at the U.S. Capitol, where Senators and Representatives use private elevators, lest they have to queue with their constituents. — Steve Rushin, Time, 10 Sept. 2007 The crowd was queuing at the snack bar.
Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
This list is not explicitly a queue of players who would be ranked from 101-125, but a combination of two groups: those who came close to making the Top 100 and those who are notable in some other capacity. — Rob Mahoney, SI.com, "Top 100 NBA Players of 2020: Biggest Snubs," 9 Sep. 2019 She and her companions, all virgins, so innocent, had been plucked from their camp to service queues of impatient army officers. — The Economist, "Obituary: Jan Ruff OâHerne died on August 19th," 5 Sep. 2019 The queue of applicantsâthere were 251 in line as of late Julyâand the attendant monthslong waiting times are frustrating scientists interested in the basic biology and therapeutic possibilities of cannabis. — Meredith Wadman, Science | AAAS, "âThe system is swamped.â Canada can't keep up with requests to study cannabis," 19 Aug. 2019 Entrances to downtown parking lots often were blocked by queues of motorists waiting their turns and these lines of idled cars disrupted traffic on most streets in the downtown area. — Scott Harrison, latimes.com, "From the Archives: Parking lot jammed by transit strike," 19 June 2019 After breakfast, there was a queue of people waiting their turn to test the greens. — Nick Paumgarten, The New Yorker, "Inside the Cultish Dreamworld of Augusta National," 14 June 2019 Many Imagineers who worked on the attraction were honored in a mock cemetery at Disneyland bordering the ride queue, its gravestones etched with rhyming epitaphs. — Nancy Coleman, New York Times, "Disneyâs Haunted Mansion at 50: The Ghosts Are Still Grinning," 16 Aug. 2019 On some days during the first week, there were two-hour-long queues just to enter the store, and long winding traffic jams outside. — Sangeeta Tanwar, Quartz India, "One year and 4 million visitors later, IKEA canât get enough of India," 13 Aug. 2019 The first person in the queue to slide down was Jane Hedges, the Dean of Norwich. — Fox News, "British cathedral installs 50-foot helter-skelter attraction," 9 Aug. 2019Recent Examples on the Web: Verb
Women queue in line to cast their votes in the village of Tumfafi, near Kano. — Joe Parkinson, WSJ, "Nigeriaâs Election Gets Under Way After a Stop-Start Runup," 23 Feb. 2019 And as the most dedicated fans who queue overnight well already know, the excitement of Wimbledon validates a poor night's sleep and year-long wait. — Jaimie Potters, Town & Country, "The Best Ways to Experience Wimbledon," 7 Aug. 2019 Last year the museum had almost 700,000 visitors, who sometimes queued for hours to get in. — The Economist, "How the Jewish Museum Berlin fell out with Jews," 25 July 2019 Over on the Braintree branch, Saba Ghaffar settled into a seat a little after 8 a.m. and prepped for the uncertain journey, queuing up music on her phone. — BostonGlobe.com, "For Red Line commutes, a roll of the dice and branch determine timing," 6 Aug. 2019 On my recent visit, we were greeted by many happy people queuing up for BBQ. — Sunset Staff, Sunset Magazine, "Pull This Pork, Dip That Chip, and 5 More Things to See & Do This Week," 29 July 2019 Those gathered snacked on risotto cakes, beef tenderloin carpaccio, and deviled quail eggs or queued up for old fashioneds, sidecars, or gin and tonic libations. — Amber Elliott, Houston Chronicle, "Slim Thug and Houston's party people toast LOUIS XIII Cognac and Pharrell Williams' song "100 Years"," 5 Mar. 2018 And yet there the protesters were, queuing in droves to pay for their train tickets in cash. — Mary Hui, Quartz, "Why Hong Kongâs protesters were afraid to use their metro cards," 13 June 2019 For opening day of Hagridâs Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventures, Islands of Adventure may open early to allow queuing for the ride, according to a post on the official Universal Orlando blog. — Dewayne Bevil, orlandosentinel.com, "Universal: New Hagrid roller coaster may use Virtual Line," 8 June 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'queue.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for queue
queue
noun
English Language Learners Definition of queue
(Entry 1 of 2)
chiefly British
: a line of people who are waiting for something
computers
: a series of instructions that are stored in a computer so that they can be processed later