queue

Use this forum to suggest Good Words for Professor Beard.
Bailey
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queue

Postby Bailey » Thu Dec 14, 2006 11:33 pm

queue (ky)
n.
1. A line of waiting people or vehicles.
2. A long braid of hair worn hanging down the back of the neck; a pigtail.
3. Computer Science
a. A sequence of stored data or programs awaiting processing.
b. A data structure from which the first item that can be retrieved is the one stored earliest.
intr.v. queued, queu·ing, queues
To get in line: queue up at the box office.



[French, from Old French cue, tail, from Latin cauda, cda.]
Word History: When the British stand in queues (as they have been doing at least since 1837, when this meaning of the word is first recorded in English), they may not realize they form a tail. The French word queue from which the English word is borrowed is a descendant of Latin cda, meaning "tail." French queue appeared in 1748 in English, referring to a plait of hair hanging down the back of the neck. By 1802 wearing a queue was a regulation in the British army, but by the mid-19th century queues had disappeared along with cocked hats. Latin cda is also the source of Italian coda, which was adopted into English as a musical term (like so many other English musical terms that come from Italian). A coda is thus literally the "tail end" of a movement or composition.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.www.freedictionary.com/queue
'Tis the season to queue up, fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.

mark standing-in-line Bailey

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Make the most of it...
kb









skinem
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Location: Middle Tennessee

Postby skinem » Fri Dec 15, 2006 8:56 pm

Isn't this word more popularly used in Great Britain?

Also, is it regional to say stand IN line vs. stand ON line?

I don't believe I ever heard standing ON line until I was grown and in different environs.

Perry
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Postby Perry » Sun Dec 17, 2006 11:00 am

I had never heard standing on line. Queue, is probably gettiing to be more widespread in the US than when I was a young pup, but it is much more used overseas.
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
Anonymous


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