queue

Pluralqueues

Formsqueues, queueing, queued

1. 1
   waiting linenounCommonwealthIrelandUKcountable

   A line or ordered list of people, vehicles, or things waiting to be dealt with in turn, usually in the order they arrive.

   The queue for the ticket office stretched right round the station.

   Lorries sat in long queues at the port while customs checked every load.

   UsageYou stand in, join or jump the queue. In North America, line is more usual: wait in line.

   Similarline

2. 2
   wait in lineverbUKIrelandCommonwealthintransitive

   To wait in a line of people or vehicles for your turn, joining it at the end; of a group, to form such a line, often with up.

   Fans queued overnight to get the first tickets.

   Please queue at the side door if you have already booked.

   UsageOften queue up or queue for something. Both queueing and queuing are correct.

   Note

   The verb takes no object, and particles shape it: people queue up at a door, or queue out into the street when the line spills over, as passengers at Clacton had to on peak Saturdays in a 1959 Trains Illustrated account. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The cited account appeared in Trains Illustrated in 1959. en.wiktionary.org
   • The account describes passengers at Clacton having to queue out into the street on peak Saturdays. en.wiktionary.org
3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To set up a series of songs, videos, tasks or other items to be played or processed in turn, often followed by up.

   Editors can queue up posts to publish automatically over the weekend.

   Before the party, I'll queue a few hours of dance music on my phone.

   Similarschedule

4. 4
   data structurenouncountable

   In computing, a data structure in which items are added at one end, the tail, and removed from the other, the head, so the first item added is the first removed.

   The print server places incoming jobs in a queue and sends them to the printer one at a time.

   Incoming requests wait in a message queue until a worker process is free.

   Note

   Programmers call the ordinary kind a FIFO queue, for first in, first out: whatever has waited longest leaves next, as at a ticket window. Turn the rule round to last in, first out and the structure is usually called a stack instead, and the newest item comes back first. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • FIFO means first in, first out: the earliest added item is removed first. docs.python.org
   • A stack uses last-in, first-out ordering, removing the most recently added item first. xlinux.nist.gov
5. 5
   put in line (code)verbtransitive

   In computing, to add an item to a queue data structure.

   The scheduler queues each task as soon as it arrives.

   Developers often queue background jobs so the website stays fast.

   Note

   The object is whatever has to wait its turn, such as a print job, a message or a download, and the verb is often passive: a request is queued until a server is free. What gets queued joins the tail of the data structure and leaves from the head when its turn comes. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • Items added to the FIFO queue described in s3 enter at the tail. docs.oracle.com
   • Items are removed from the head of that queue. docs.oracle.com
6. 6
   hair braidnounhistoricalcountable

   A men's hairstyle in which the hair is gathered into a braid or ponytail at the back of the head, such as that worn in Imperial China or in 18th-century Europe.

   Under the old law, every man in the province had to shave his forehead and wear a queue.

   The colonel tied his powdered hair back in a neat queue with a black ribbon.

   Similarpigtail, braid, plait, ponytail

   Note

   Two traditions share the word, both now history. Under the Manchus, men in China shaved the front of the head and wore the rest of the hair in a long braid. In Europe and America, soldiers and gentlemen tied their own hair or their wigs back, and in Arthur Conan Doyle's Micah Clarke the baronet's hundred musketeers sit in a row, each plaiting a queue for the man in front. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

   • Under Manchu rule, men in China shaved the front of the head and braided the remaining hair. en.wikipedia.org
   • European soldiers and civilians wore their hair or wigs tied back in queues. en.wikipedia.org
   • American soldiers also wore queues. en.wikipedia.org
   • American gentlemen wore their own hair tied back in a queue. mountvernon.org
   • Arthur Conan Doyle wrote Micah Clarke. gutenberg.org
   • The novel depicts the baronet's hundred musketeers sitting in a line and braiding the hair of the man ahead. gutenberg.org
7. 7
   verbintransitive

   To enter the matchmaking system of an online video game and wait until it places you in a match with other players.

   Let's queue for a few ranked matches before the servers go down for maintenance.

   He queued as a healer to shorten the wait, and the game found him a match within seconds.

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