Collins English-English Dictionary

queen [kwiːn]

1. 1. n a female sovereign who is the official ruler or head of state

2. 2. n the wife or widow of a king

3. 3. n a woman or a thing personified as a woman considered the best or most important of her kind

   a beauty queen

   the queen of ocean liners

4. 4. n [Slang] an effeminate male homosexual

5. 5. n the only fertile female in a colony of social insects, such as bees, ants, and termites, from the eggs of which the entire colony develops

6. 6. n (as modifier)

   a queen bee

7. 7. n an adult female cat

8. 8. n one of four playing cards in a pack, one for each suit, bearing the picture of a queen

9. 9. n a chess piece, theoretically the most powerful piece, able to move in a straight line in any direction or diagonally, over any number of squares

10. 10. vb [chess] to promote (a pawn) to a queen when it reaches the eighth rank

11. 11. vt. [tr] to crown as queen

12. 12. vi. [intr] [Spoken] (of a gay man) to flaunt one's homosexuality

13. 13. vi. [intr] to reign as queen

14. 14. vi. [Etymology] Old English cwen; related to Old Saxon quan wife, Old Norse kvæn, Gothic qens wife