queen

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
queen/kwiːn/

▶noun

• 1 the female ruler of an independent state, especially one who inherits the position by right of birth.

  ■ (also queen consort) a king's wife.

  ■ a woman or girl holding the most important position in a festival or event.

• 2 a woman or thing regarded as the finest or most important in its sphere or group.

• 3 informal a man's wife or girlfriend.

• 4 the most powerful chess piece, able to move in any direction.

• 5 a playing card bearing a representation of a queen, ranking next below a king.

• 6 Entomology a reproductive female in a colony of ants, bees, wasps, or termites.

• 7 an adult female cat that has not been spayed.

• 8 informal a flamboyantly effeminate male homosexual.

▶verb

• 1 (queen it) (of a woman) act in an unpleasantly superior way.

• 2 Chess convert (a pawn) into a queen when it reaches the opponent's end of the board.

– derivatives
queendom noun,
queen-like adjective,
queenliness noun,
queenly adjective ,
queenship noun.

– origin OE cwēn, of Gmc origin; rel. to quean.