queue — ozdic

Collocations

22

1

(noun.)

ADJ

endless, long | growing, lengthening

orderly

The passengers waited in an orderly queue at the airport check-in counter.

bus, checkout, cinema, etc.

bread, dinner, food

People waited in long bread queues outside the bakery every morning during the shortage.

traffic

dole

Thousands of people stood in the dole queue, waiting to collect their weekly payments.

VERB + QUEUE

form, line up in

join, stand in, wait in

We stood in the queue for over an hour to buy concert tickets.

jump

She got angry when someone tried to jump the queue at the supermarket checkout.

QUEUE + VERB

form

build up, grow

A queue grew outside the cinema as more people arrived for the evening showing.

move

People stood outside the cinema waiting for the queue to move forward.

stretch

The line of people waiting for concert tickets stretched all the way around the building.

PREP

in a/the ~

Everyone waiting in the queue seemed impatient as the line moved very slowly.

~ for

I waited in a long queue for the bus this morning.

~ of

There was a queue of people waiting outside the cinema for the new film.

PHRASES

the back/end of the queue, the front/head of the queue

2

(verb.)

ADV

patiently

up

Fans queued up for hours to buy tickets for the concert.

VERB + QUEUE

have to

PREP

for

People often queue for hours on the first day of the sales.

Definitions

noun

1

A line of people, vehicles or other objects, usually one to be dealt with in sequence (i.e., the one at the front end is dealt with first, the one behind is dealt with next, and so on), and which newcomers join at the opposite end (the back

I was absent-minded at the moment and was last in the queue.

In a report published on October 31, Transport Focus said that a number of train companies were unable to convince it about their ability to sell a full range of tickets, handle cash payments, and avoid excessive queues at ticket machines.

2

A waiting list or other means of organizing people or objects into a first-come-first-served order.

3

A data structure in which objects are added to one end, called the tail, and removed from the other, called the head (in the case of a FIFO queue). The term can also refer to a LIFO queue or stack where these ends coincide.

2005, David Flanagan, Java in a Nutshell, p. 234, Queue implementations are commonly based on insertion order as in first-in, first-out (FIFO) queues or last-in, first-out queues (LIFO queues are also known as stacks).

4

An animal's tail.

HESSE: Az., a lion, queue fourchée, rampt., barry of ten, arg. and gu., crowned, or, and holding in his dexter paw a sword, ppr., hilt and pommel, gold.

5

A men's hairstyle with a braid or ponytail at the back of the head, such as that worn by men in Imperial China.

[…], there were seated astraddle the whole hundred of the baronet's musqueteers, each engaged in plaiting into a queue the hair of the man who sat in front of him.

A large number of loyal officials, rather than shave the front part of the head and wear the Manchu queue, voluntarily shaved the whole head, […]

verb

1

To put oneself or itself at the end of a waiting line.

Although there is a spacious circulating area beyond the platforms at Clacton, there is severe overcrowding on peak Saturdays; at times of pressure passengers have to queue out into the street [...]

2

To arrange themselves into a physical waiting queue.

3

To add to a queue data structure.

4

To fasten the hair into a queue.

Though Monroe the man has become a vague anachronistic figure in knee breeches and with queued, powdered hair, his name is perpetuated in the Monroe Doctrine, evoked by him as a temporary response to an immediate crisis.

The sons, in short square skirted coats with rows of stupendous brass buttons, and their hair generally queued in the fashion of the times, especially if they could procure an eel skin for the purpose, it being esteemed throughout the country as potent nourisher and strengthener of the hair.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

Antonyms

Idioms & Phrases

jump the queue

To move into a queue ahead of others who have been waiting longer or that have a higher priority; push in.

Example Bank

6

01

I was absent-minded at the moment and was last in the queue.

Wiktionary

02

In a report published on October 31, Transport Focus said that a number of train companies were unable to convince it about their ability to sell a full range of tickets, handle cash payments, and avo

Wiktionary

03

2005, David Flanagan, Java in a Nutshell, p. 234, Queue implementations are commonly based on insertion order as in first-in, first-out (FIFO) queues or last-in, first-out queues (LIFO queues are also

Wiktionary

04

Although there is a spacious circulating area beyond the platforms at Clacton, there is severe overcrowding on peak Saturdays; at times of pressure passengers have to queue out into the street [...]

Wiktionary

05

Though Monroe the man has become a vague anachronistic figure in knee breeches and with queued, powdered hair, his name is perpetuated in the Monroe Doctrine, evoked by him as a temporary response to

Wiktionary

06

The sons, in short square skirted coats with rows of stupendous brass buttons, and their hair generally queued in the fashion of the times, especially if they could procure an eel skin for the purpose

Wiktionary

Usage Notes

i Register

In some senses, queue is marked as UK, historical. Watch for register when choosing this word.