cue
Pluralcues
Pluralcues
- 1A subtle hint or indication that points toward something.
New parents learn that a yawn is often a cue that the baby is tired.
She reads social cues better than anyone in the room.
UsageOften plural: people read or pick up on social cues.
Similarhint, sign, signal, indication, clue
Note
Jonathan Swift's Directions to Servants (published 1745, after his death) advises giving the servants "their cue to attend in two lines," and the possessive is the habit worth noticing: a hint becomes someone's cue, handed to them. The modern plural, as in social cues, keeps the same idea of hints we are expected to read without being told outright.
- 2An action or event that signals someone to do something.
The director's nod was the cue for the dancers to begin.
She waited for some cue from her boss before raising the issue.
UsageSay the cue for something or your cue to act; take your cue from someone. Not the same word as queue, a line.
- 3A straight, tapering stick used to strike the balls in games such as pool, billiards, and snooker.
He bent over the table and drew back his cue.
A warped cue can ruin even an expert player's aim.
Note
The ball it is allowed to strike is the cue ball, and its leather tip is chalked for grip so that it does not slip off the ball.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The cue ball is the ball legally struck with the cue. wpapool.com
- Billiard cues have leather tips. en.wikipedia.org
- Chalking the tip increases friction and helps prevent slipping or miscues. en.wikipedia.org
- 4To prompt or trigger something to happen.
The announcement cued a wave of panic buying.
Certain songs cue strong feelings in listeners.
UsageOften a wry command opening a sentence, cue + noun, meaning that came next: cue the tears.
Similartrigger, prompt, spark, provoke
Note
Sportswriters love the imperative version. Tom English, reporting Celtic 3–3 Manchester City in 2016, follows a deflected goal with "Cue more pandemonium": a stage command turned into a wry way of saying what came next.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Tom English reported Celtic's 3–3 match against Manchester City in 2016. bbc.com
- English wrote Cue more pandemonium immediately after describing a deflected goal. en.wiktionary.org
- 5The final words of an actor's speech, signaling the next performer to speak; any prompt reminding an actor what to say or do.
The young actor forgot his cue and left an awkward silence.
Each performer learns the cue that prompts the next entrance.
UsageAn actor misses or waits for a cue; on cue or right on cue means at just the right moment.
Note
Shakespeare already has a cue that arrives on its own: "When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer," in A Midsommer Nights Dreame. The cue comes, is waited for, is forgotten; actors do not invent it but listen for it. Catchword is a rarer synonym, and the everyday signal is this sense carried offstage.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- William Shakespeare wrote the named play. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
- The quotation is accurately worded and occurs in the play; its speaker is Bottom. folger.edu
- The general signal sense belongs to the word originating in theatrical prompting. en.wiktionary.org
- 6A signal or marked point that sets off an event, for instance the starting point of an audio recording.
The sound technician marked a cue for each scene change.
Audio software lets you drop a cue anywhere in the track.
Similarmarker
Note
In electronics and computing a cue speaks to a machine rather than a person: a marker placed in a recording so that playback, or some other event, begins exactly there. The stage logic survives intact (a cue still means "start here") but the mark is stored in the equipment rather than watched for by a performer.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Digital audio recordings can contain cue markers identifying particular positions. blogs.loc.gov
- Cue points can specify where playback begins while still requiring a person to start it. Automatic operation depends on the system and its configuration. pcdj.com
- 7To give someone a signal indicating when to act or speak.
The director cued the actors with a quick nod.
He will cue you when it is time to enter.
UsagePast cued; the -ing form is cueing or cuing.
Note
The imperative is the working form on a set: "Cue the cameraman, and action!" That bare command later loosened into the "spark" sense, where nothing is literally being signaled at all.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The quoted command is attested as an example sentence; no speaker or work is identified. en.wiktionary.org
Less common meanings
- 8To take aim at the cue ball with the stick and strike it.
He cued the white ball softly so it stopped behind the red one.
Players who cue too hard often lose control of the shot.
Note
Players use the verb for the whole act of the stroke, not just the moment of contact: lining up the stick, setting the stance and bridge hand, then delivering it. Control, spin and power are all matters of how a player cues, which is why coaching talk dwells on the verb more than on the stick.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- Cueing technique affects control, spin and power. drdavepoolinfo.com
- 9The tail or end of something, and in particular a pigtail hanging from the back of the head; a queue.
The old gentleman wore a powdered cue tied neatly at the nape.
Each soldier kept his cue greased and bound for parade.
UsageModern writing spells this queue.
Note
The French "tail" worn on the head: Sheridan Le Fanu's The House by the Churchyard (1863) gives General Chattesworth "his great cue playing all the time up and down his back."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Cue in the pigtail sense derives from French queue, meaning tail. en.wiktionary.org
- Sheridan Le Fanu wrote The House by the Churchyard. en.wikisource.org
- The novel's first book publication was in 1863. celt.ucc.ie
- The narrator describes General Chattesworth's pigtail using the exact quoted words. celt.ucc.ie
- 10One's humor or temper of mind; the frame of mind a person is in.
Note
A sense that has dropped out of use: a person could be in a good or a foul cue, much as one is now in a good humor.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Cue formerly meant a person's humour or temper of mind; good and foul cue illustrate this sense. en.wiktionary.org
- 11A small portion of bread or beer; the amount bought for a farthing or half farthing and recorded with a 'q' in college buttery books.
Note
The buttery books marked a farthing's or half a farthing's worth with q, short for Latin quadrāns, and the letter's name became the name of the ration itself. Middle English cu already meant half a farthing.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The ration's name came from the name of q, used as an abbreviation of Latin quadrāns. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle English cu meant half a farthing. en.wiktionary.org
- 12The word that names the letter Q (q) of the Latin script.
"My name is Quinn," said Quinn. "Cue-you-eye-en-en."
2008, John Clark Pratt, Vietnam Voices: Perspectives on the War Years - 13To twist or braid something, especially hair, into a tail-like form.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
Latin cu or ku is the ultimate source, by way of Middle English cu. In Middle English the word could mean half a farthing, since q was written as a short form of Latin quadrans ("quarter of an as").
This is probably the earlier qu, short for Latin quando ("when"). Actors' copies of a play had it written at the spot where each was to begin.
A variant of 'queue', from French queue ("tail").
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Cue is a variant of queue. en.wiktionary.org
- The source is French queue, meaning “tail.” en.wiktionary.org