queueing
queueing — noun
1. A group of people standing one behind the other, or a line of cars, waiting for
A group of people standing one behind the other, or a line of cars, waiting for their turn to do something such as buy a ticket, enter a building, or be served at a counter.
A long queue of passengers had formed outside the train station ticket office by six o'clock in the morning.
collocation: a long queue of [people]
Tara joined the queue for the new art exhibition and waited nearly an hour before reaching the entrance.
The queue at the checkout stretched all the way to the frozen food section at the back of the shop.
Drivers sat in a slow-moving queue of cars waiting to cross the bridge into the city centre.
- line
Standard American English equivalent for a queue of people or vehicles
- waiting line
Slightly more formal term for a queue, used in both British and American English
- crocodile
UK informal; a line of schoolchildren walking in pairs
文法句型
a queue of [people/vehicles]
queue for [something]
用法筆記
Queue is the standard word in British English; American English uses line for this sense. The verb sense (to queue) is also chiefly British.
常見錯誤
2. A list of tasks, messages, or requests that a computer system stores temporarily
A list of tasks, messages, or requests that a computer system stores temporarily and processes one after another in the order they were received.
The printer queue showed fifteen documents waiting to be printed, so Ryo cancelled the ones he no longer needed.
collocation: printer queue
When the mail server failed, messages piled up in the outgoing queue and were sent after the restart.
collocation: outgoing queue
Femi checked the download queue on his laptop and paused the largest file.
The video queue held an hour of footage that needed converting to a smaller format.
- waiting list
Used for tasks or jobs awaiting processing, especially in non-technical contexts
- buffer
A temporary storage area that holds data, but not necessarily in sequential order
文法句型
[print/message/job/task] queue
用法筆記
Unlike the line-of-people sense, this computing sense is universal across all varieties of English. Common collocations include print queue, message queue, job queue, and download queue.
常見錯誤
3. A plaited length of hair worn hanging from the crown area down the spine, tradit
A plaited length of hair worn hanging from the crown area down the spine, traditionally worn by men in Qing-dynasty China and by certain 18th-century European soldiers.
In many 19th-century portraits, Chinese officials are shown with a long queue of braided hair hanging down their backs.
The museum showed a photograph of men with shaved foreheads and a single plaited queue.
historical context: Qing-era hairstyle
Governor Li Hongzhang wears a long braided queue hanging down his back over his silk robe.
Paul studied historical illustrations of the queue hairstyle for his research project on Qing-era fashion and identity.
文法句型
wear a queue
a queue of hair
用法筆記
This sense is historical rather than modern. When used about Qing-dynasty China, the queue hairstyle had political significance — wearing it was a mark of submitting to Manchu rule. The word queue in this sense is also used for certain 18th-century European military wigs that featured a small braided tail.
4. A way of organizing data in a computer program where new items are added at the
A way of organizing data in a computer program where new items are added at the back and existing items are taken out from the front, following a first-in, first-out order.
In computer science class, Maeve learned how to implement a queue data structure using an array and two pointers.
collocation: implement a queue data structure
Nadia implemented a queue in her online shop to process customer orders in the order they arrived.
concrete usage: queue for order processing in an online shop
Jabari wrote a program that used a queue to store customer support requests before handling them one by one.
Diego used a queue in his ticket booking system to serve requests in the order they arrived.
- FIFO queue
Explicitly names the first-in, first-out property of the structure
- circular buffer
A related data structure where the storage wraps around, but not exactly the same
- stack
A LIFO (last-in, first-out) data structure, opposite ordering principle
文法句型
implement a queue
queue data structure
用法筆記
This is a computer science term referring specifically to the abstract data type (ADT) with enqueue and dequeue operations. It differs from the general computing sense (sense 2) by focusing on the formal algorithmic structure rather than the practical collection of waiting tasks.
常見錯誤
queueing — verb
- queueingpresent simple I / you / we / they
- queueings3rd person singular
- queueinging-ing form
- queueingedpast simple
1. To stand one behind another with other people, each waiting for their chance to
To stand one behind another with other people, each waiting for their chance to do something such as make a purchase, collect a ticket, or board a vehicle.
Greta queued for twenty minutes to buy coffee at the busy station café.
collocation: queue for [something]
Fans started queuing outside the concert hall from early morning, hoping to get front-row seats for the show.
Anong queued patiently at the post office counter while the clerk processed each customer slowly and carefully.
Passengers queuing at the airport security gate grew restless as the long line barely moved forward.
Tyler queued for the roller coaster with his younger sister, who was too excited to stand still during the wait.
- line up
Standard American English equivalent; also used informally in British English
- wait in line
The usual American English expression for standing in a queue
- stand in a queue
Slightly more formal or descriptive way to express queuing
文法句型
queue (up) for [something]
queue to do something
queue (up) with [others]
用法筆記
In British English, queue up is a common variant that emphasises the forming of the line: 'People queued up outside the shop from 5 a.m.' American English uses line up or wait in line instead.
常見錯誤
2. To be very keen or eager to do something, especially when many people share the
To be very keen or eager to do something, especially when many people share the same strong desire and are metaphorically lining up for a chance at it.
After the job posting went online, dozens of applicants were queuing to submit their CVs for the position.
pattern: be queuing to do something
Young fashion designers from all over Asia were queuing to show their collections at the Taipei Fashion Week.
Heloísa queued to speak with the professor after the lecture about a research opportunity in the neuroscience lab.
Local musicians are queuing to perform at the new venue because it has excellent sound equipment and a good reputation.
- be eager
Direct and neutral; expresses strong desire without the metaphorical line imagery
- be lining up
Similar metaphorical usage, more common in American English
- be clamouring for
More intense, implying noise and urgency
文法句型
be queuing to do something
queue up to do something
用法筆記
This sense is an extension of the literal queuing sense, used figuratively when there is no physical line. It suggests strong demand or enthusiasm. Common in journalistic writing: 'Companies are queuing to invest in the region.'
常見錯誤
3. To arrange computer tasks, print jobs, phone calls, or data items into a list so
To arrange computer tasks, print jobs, phone calls, or data items into a list so that they can be processed one after another in a fixed order without manual intervention.
The computer automatically queued the print jobs so that each document came out in the correct order.
passive: be queued automatically
Noa queued three large video files for export before leaving the office for the night.
transitive: queue [files] for [purpose]
The server queues incoming customer orders and processes them one at a time to prevent any errors in the system.
Mert queued the photographs in the editing software before starting to apply colour filters to each image.
- dequeue
To remove an item from the front of a queue
文法句型
queue [something] (up)
[something] is queued for [processing]
queue [tasks/jobs/files]
用法筆記
In computing contexts, queue is the standard term in all varieties of English. The transitive form ('queue the jobs') is very common, as is the passive ('requests are queued for processing'). The phrasal verb queue up is also used: 'queue up the next track.'