HQ

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountableinitialism

   Initialism of headquarters.

   The company moved its HQ to a smaller city last year.

   Reporters waited outside the campaign HQ for an announcement.

   Note

   The full word headquarters ends in -s, but the short form takes its own plural: one HQ, several HQs. It also works without an article, almost as a call sign ("HQ to all personnel"), standing for the command itself rather than the building. That use carries over from the military sense of headquarters, a commander and support staff as well as a place.

2. 2
   adjectiveinitialism

   Initialism of high-quality.

   Gamers prefer HQ textures even on older machines.

   The streaming service finally added an HQ audio option.

   Note

   An either-or label rather than a scale: something is HQ or it is not, so the short form is not compared. Nobody writes "more HQ" or "HQest." Its opposite is the matching initialism LQ, and the two work as a pair of settings or versions, such as HQ audio and LQ audio, rather than as words of praise.

3. 3
   proper nouninitialism

   Initialism of HAVE QUICK.

   The aircraft relied on HQ to keep its transmissions secure from interference.

   Ground crews configured HQ before the squadron took off.

   Note

   A proper name, not a common noun: here HQ shortens HAVE QUICK, the capitalized name of a frequency-hopping radio system, and it is used without an article. In military settings it shares its letters with the word for a command base, so context tells the two apart. Radios, transmissions and interference point to this one; orders and staff point to the other.

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