cueing

Pluralcueings

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act or process of prompting something with a signal, telling a person or system when to act or begin.

   Like a conductor's downbeat that tells the orchestra exactly when to play.

   Careful cueing during the live broadcast kept each segment running on time.

   The actor missed his entrance because the stage manager's cueing came a beat too late.

   Similarprompting, signaling

   Note

   Usually a mass noun for the practice as a whole, as in careful cueing or the cueing of a broadcast. It can also be counted, so separate signals in a sequence are cueings. When it follows an article or takes an adjective, it is this noun. When it takes a direct object, as in cueing the dancers, it is the verb form.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of cue.

   The stage manager was cueing the lighting changes throughout the performance.

   Cueing the dancers at exactly the right moment takes years of practice.

   Note

   One form serves several verbs at once. A stage manager is cueing a lighting change. Something can be cueing a reaction in the broader sense of sparking or provoking it. A billiards player is cueing when taking aim at the cue ball, and hair can be cued by twisting or braiding it. The e of cue is kept before -ing, so the spelling stays close to the base word.

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