Queen \Queen\, n. [OE. quen, quene, queen, quean, AS. cw[=e]n
wife, queen, woman; akin to OS. qu[=a]n wife, woman, Icel.
kv[=a]n wife, queen, Goth. q[=e]ns. [root]221. See {Quean}.]
1. The wife of a king.
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2. A woman who is the sovereign of a kingdom; a female
monarch; as, Elizabeth, queen of England; Mary, queen of
Scots.
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In faith, and by the heaven's quene. --Chaucer.
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3. A woman eminent in power or attractions; the highest of
her kind; as, a queen in society; -- also used
figuratively of cities, countries, etc. " This queen of
cities." " Albion, queen of isles." --Cowper.
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4. The fertile, or fully developed, female of social bees,
ants, and termites.
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5. (Chess) The most powerful, and except the king the most
important, piece in a set of chessmen.
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6. A playing card bearing the picture of a queen; as, the
queen of spades.
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{Queen apple}. [Cf. OE. quyne aple quince apple.] A kind of
apple; a queening. "Queen apples and red cherries."
--Spenser.
{Queen bee} (Zool.), a female bee, especially the female of
the honeybee. See {Honeybee}.
{Queen conch} (Zool.), a very large West Indian cameo conch
({Cassis cameo}). It is much used for making cameos.
{Queen consort}, the wife of a reigning king. --Blackstone.
{Queen dowager}, the widow of a king.
{Queen gold}, formerly a revenue of the queen consort of
England, arising from gifts, fines, etc.
{Queen mother}, a queen dowager who is also mother of the
reigning king or queen.
{Queen of May}. See {May queen}, under {May}.
{Queen of the meadow} (Bot.), a European herbaceous plant
({Spiraea Ulmaria}). See {Meadowsweet}.
{Queen of the prairie} (Bot.), an American herb ({Spiraea lobata}) with ample clusters of pale pink flowers.
{Queen pigeon} (Zool.), any one of several species of very
large and handsome crested ground pigeons of the genus
{Goura}, native of New Guinea and the adjacent islands.
They are mostly pale blue, or ash-blue, marked with white,
and have a large occipital crest of spatulate feathers.
Called also {crowned pigeon}, {goura}, and {Victoria pigeon}.
{Queen regent}, or {Queen regnant}, a queen reigning in her
own right.
{Queens Bench}. See {Kings Bench}.
{Queens counsel}, {Queens evidence}. See {Kings counsel},
{Kings evidence}, under {King}.
{Queens delight} (Bot.), an American plant ({Stillinqia sylvatica}) of the Spurge family, having an herbaceous
stem and a perennial woody root.
{Queens metal} (Metal.), an alloy somewhat resembling pewter
or britannia, and consisting essentially of tin with a
slight admixture of antimony, bismuth, and lead or copper.
{Queens pigeon}. (Zool.) Same as {Queen pigeon}, above.
{Queens ware}, glazed English earthenware of a cream color.
{Queens yellow} (Old Chem.), a heavy yellow powder
consisting of a basic mercuric sulphate; -- formerly
called {turpetum minerale}, or {Turbiths mineral}.
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