queening

Pluralqueenings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of queen.

   By queening his passed pawn, he forced an immediate resignation.

   Queening it over the rest of the cast, the lead actor demanded constant attention.

   Note

   One spelling carries every verb sense of queen. Chess players speak of queening a pawn. Beekeepers speak of queening a colony when they give it a new queen. The sexual slang belongs here too. As a gerund it sits close to the chess noun, but the gerund can still take a direct object (queening the pawn). Imperious behavior belongs to the older phrase queen it.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   In chess, the promotion of a pawn to a queen.

   Queening at the eighth rank gave her an overwhelming material advantage.

   The whole plan depended on queening before his opponent could promote.

   Similarpromotion

   Note

   A move whose results can be counted. The American Statistical Association's 1978 Proceedings report 89 queenings in 70 games. A pawn that reaches the eighth rank could become a knight, rook or bishop. The queen is the usual choice because it combines the powers of rook and bishop. The word works as a count noun (two queenings in one game) and as a mass noun (the threat of queening).

3. 3
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A sexual practice in which one partner sits on another's face.

   After reading about it, the couple decided to try queening for the first time.

   For some partners, queening becomes a regular part of their intimate life.

   Similarface-sitting

4. 4
   nouncountable

   Any of several distinct varieties of apple.

   The grower prized his queenings for their sharp, sweet flavor.

   She found a single queening still clinging to the bare branch.

   Note

   An apple name with a long history. Middle English had the plural quenynges, and the usual explanation ties it to quene, "queen", although that link is not certain. In modern use it is a count noun: a queening is a single apple, and queenings can mean several fruits or several of the varieties.

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