cue, queue

cue, queue
Cue is more widely used than queue in all meanings, but careful speakers and writers continue to distinguish between them. A queue refers to a braid of hair and to a file, or line: "She wore her hair in a queue which hung down to her waist." "Let's queue up for the next bus." A cue refers in the theater to an indication of following action or speech and in general use to any kind of hint or suggestion; in games, cue means the tipped rod used in billiards and pool: "I don't have a single cue as to his intentions." "When he missed the shot, the player broke his cue in anger."

Dictionary of problem words and expressions. . 1975.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • cue — noun the blinking blue light is my cue to lower the volume Syn: signal, sign, indication, prompt, reminder; nod, word, gesture •• cue, queue Though pronounced the same, these words have different meanings. Cue = (1) a signal to begin; a hint; or… …   Thesaurus of popular words

  • queue — See cue. See cue, queue …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • cue — See cue, queue …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • Cue — (k[=u]), n. [ OF. coue, coe, F. queue, fr. L. coda, cauda, tail. Cf. {Caudal}, {Coward}, {Queue}.] 1. The tail; the end of a thing; especially, a tail like twist of hair worn at the back of the head; a queue. [1913 Webster] 2. The last words of a …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • cue — Ⅰ. cue [1] ► NOUN 1) a signal to an actor to enter or to begin their speech or performance. 2) a signal or prompt for action. 3) a facility for playing through an audio or video recording very rapidly until a desired starting point is reached. ►… …   English terms dictionary

  • cue — cue1 [kyo͞o] n. [< q, Q, used in plays in 16th & 17th c. to indicate actors entrances; prob. abbrev. of some L word (as quando, when, qualis, in what manner)] 1. a bit of dialogue, action, or music that is a signal for an actor s entrance or… …   English World dictionary

  • cue — has several meanings in English, and it is not clear whether they can all be considered to be the same word. In the case of ‘pigtail’ and ‘billiard stick’, both of which appeared in the 18th century, cue is clearly just a variant spelling of… …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • cue — has several meanings in English, and it is not clear whether they can all be considered to be the same word. In the case of ‘pigtail’ and ‘billiard stick’, both of which appeared in the 18th century, cue is clearly just a variant spelling of… …   Word origins

  • Cue — or CUE may refer to: Contents 1 Event markers 2 Places 3 Education 4 Music 5 Other …   Wikipedia

  • queue — 1. (keue) s. f. 1°   Partie qui termine par derrière le corps de la plupart des animaux. •   C est dans cette île [Mindoro] que Struys dit avoir vu de ses propres yeux un homme qui avait une queue longue de plus d un pied, toute couverte d un… …   Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”