queen

I. noun Etymology: Middle English quene, from Old English cwēn woman, wife, queen; akin to Gothic qens wife, Greek gynē woman, Sanskrit jani Date: before 12th century 1. a. the wife or widow of a king b. the wife or widow of a tribal chief 2. a. a female monarch b. a female chieftain 3. a. a woman eminent in rank, power, or attractions <

a movie queen

> b. a goddess or a thing personified as female and having supremacy in a specified realm c. an attractive girl or woman; especially a beauty contest winner 4. the most privileged piece of each color in a set of chessmen having the power to move in any direction across any number of unoccupied squares 5. a playing card marked with a stylized figure of a queen 6. the fertile fully developed female of social bees, ants, and termites whose function is to lay eggs 7. a mature female cat kept especially for breeding 8. often disparaging a male homosexual; especially an effeminate one II. verb Date: 1611 intransitive verb 1. to act like a queen; especially to put on airs — usually used with it <

queens it over her friends

> 2. to become a queen in chess <

the pawn queens

> transitive verb to promote (a pawn) to a queen in chess