queue

 
Pronunciation: /kjuː/

noun

  • 1chiefly British a line or sequence of people or vehicles awaiting their turn to be attended to or to proceed.
  • 2 Computing a list of data items, commands, etc., stored so as to be retrievable in a definite order, usually the order of insertion.
  • 3 archaic a plait of hair worn at the back.

verb (queues, queuing or queueing, queued)

  • 1 [no object] chiefly British take one’s place in a queue: in the war they had queued for food
  • (queue up) be extremely keen to do or have something: companies are queuing up to move to the bay
  • 2 [with object] Computing arrange in a queue: input or output requests to a file are queued by the operating system

Origin:

late 16th century (as a heraldic term denoting the tail of an animal): from French, based on Latin cauda 'tail'. Compare with cue2. queue (sense 1 of the noun) dates from the mid 19th century

Spelling help

Queuing is usually spelled without an e before the i, although queueing is also correct.

Do not confuse cue with queue. Cue means 'a signal for action' ( the announcement was a cue for the crowd to gather) or 'a long wooden rod', whereas queue means 'a line of people or vehicles' ( I joined the end of the queue).