1. [n]  female cat
2. [n]  the only fertile female in a colony of social insects such as bees and ants and termites; its function is to lay eggs
3. [n]  especially large and only member of a colony of naked mole rats to bear offspring sired by only a few males
4. [n]  (chess) the most powerful chess piece
5. [n]  one of four face cards in a deck bearing a picture of a queen
6. [n]  offensive terms for an openly homosexual man
7. [n]  a competitor who holds a preeminent position
8. [n]  a female sovereign ruler
9. [n]  the wife or widow of a king
10. [n]  something personified as a woman who is considered the best or most important of her kind; "Paris is the queen of cities"; "the queen of ocean liners"
11. [v]  become a queen, as of a chess pawn
12. [v]  promote to a queen, as of a pawn in chess

1. \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.
   
   2. A woman who is the sovereign of a kingdom; a female
      monarch; as, Elizabeth, queen of England; Mary, queen of
      Scots.
   
            In faith, and by the heaven's quene.  --Chaucer.
   
   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.
   
   4. The fertile, or fully developed, female of social bees,
      ants, and termites.
   
   5. (Chess) The most powerful, and except the king the most
      important, piece in a set of chessmen.
   
   6. A playing card bearing the picture of a queen; as, the
      queen of spades.
   
   
   
   {Queen apple}. [Cf. OE. quyne aple quince apple.] A kind of
      apple; a queening. ``Queen apples and red cherries.''
      --Spenser.
   
   {Queen bee} (Zo["o]l.), a female bee, especially the female
      of the honeybee. See {Honeybee}.
   
   
   
   {Queen conch} (Zo["o]l.), 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
      ({Spir[ae]a Ulmaria}). See {Meadowsweet}.
   
   {Queen of the prairie} (Bot.), an American herb ({Spir[ae]a
      lobata}) with ample clusters of pale pink flowers.
   
   {Queen pigeon} (Zo["o]l.), 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.
   
   {Queen's Bench}. See {King's Bench}.
   
   {Queen's counsel}, {Queen's evidence}. See {King's counsel},
      {King's evidence}, under {King}.
   
   {Queen's delight} (Bot.), an American plant ({Stillinqia
      sylvatica}) of the Spurge family, having an herbaceous
      stem and a perennial woody root.
   
   {Queen's 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.
   
   
   {Queen's pigeon}. (Zo["o]l.) Same as {Queen pigeon}, above.
   
   
   {Queen's ware}, glazed English earthenware of a cream color.
   
   
   {Queen's yellow} (Old Chem.), a heavy yellow powder
      consisting of a basic mercuric sulphate; -- formerly
      called {turpetum minerale}, or {Turbith's mineral}.
   
   

2. \Queen\, v. i.
   To act the part of a queen. --Shak.
   
   

3. \Queen\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Queened}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Queening}.] (Chess.)
   To make a queen (or other piece, at the player's discretion)
   of by moving it to the eighth row; as, to queen a pawn.
   
   

No explicit mention of queens is made till we read of the "queen of Sheba." The wives of the kings of Israel are not so designated. In Ps. 45:9, the Hebrew for "queen" is not _malkah_, one actually ruling like the Queen of Sheba, but _shegal_, which simply means the king's wife. In 1 Kings 11:19, Pharaoh's wife is called "the queen," but the Hebrew word so rendered (g'birah) is simply a title of honour, denoting a royal lady, used sometimes for "queen-mother" (1 Kings 15:13; 2 Chron. 15:16). In Cant. 6:8, 9, the king's wives are styled "queens" (Heb. melakhoth).

In the New Testament we read of the "queen of the south", i.e., Southern Arabia, Sheba (Matt. 12:42; Luke 11:31) and the "queen of the Ethiopians" (Acts 8:27), Candace.