Queen

No explicit mention of queens is made till we read of the “queen of Sheba.” The wives of the kings of Israel are not so designated. In Ps. 45:9, the Hebrew for “queen” is not malkah, one actually ruling like the Queen of Sheba, but shegal, which simply means the king’s wife. In 1 Kings 11:19, Pharaoh’s wife is called “the queen,” but the Hebrew word so rendered (g’birah) is simply a title of honour, denoting a royal lady, used sometimes for “queen-mother” (1 Kings 15:13; 2 Chron. 15:16). In Cant. 6:8, 9, the king’s wives are styled “queens” (Heb. melakhoth). In the New Testament we read of the “queen of the south”, i.e., Southern Arabia, Sheba (Matt. 12:42; Luke 11:31) and the “queen of the Ethiopians” (Acts 8:27), Candace.

This title is properly applied to the queen-mother, since in an Oriental household it is not the wife but the mother of the master who exercises the highest authority. Strange as such an arrangement at sight appears, it is one of the inevitable results of polygamy. An illustration of the queen-mother’s influence is given in (1 Kings 2:19) ff. The term is applied to Maachah, (1 Kings 15:13; 2 Chronicles 16:16) and to Jezetiel, (2 Kings 10:13) and to the mother of Jehoiachin or Jeconiah, (Jeremiah 13:18) compare 2Kin 24:12; Jere 29:2

QUEEN is the rendering of three different Hebrew words, of which the first is applied to a queen-regnant- as, for instance, the queen of Sheba, 1 Kgs 10:1, and Athaliah, who usurped the throne of Judah, 2 Kgs 11; the second to a queen-consort - that is, to the wives of first rank in the royal harem, as distinguished from the concubines, Esth 1:9; Zech 7:1; Song 6:8; and the third to a queen-mother - as, for instance, Bathsheba, 1 Kgs 2:19; Maachah, 1 Kgs 15:13; 2 Chr 15:16; Jezebel. 2 Kgs 10:13. It was a natural result of the practice of polygamy that the queen-consort never attained that dignity which in our times such a position confers, while the queen-mother came to occupy one of the most dignified and powerful positions in the state. The following is a list of queen-mothers through the successive reigns of the monarchs of the kingdom of Judah:

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. The wife of a king.

2. A woman who is the sovereign of a kingdom; a female monarch; as, Elizabeth, queen of England; Mary, queen of Scots. In faith, and by the heaven's quene. Chaucer.

3. A woman eminent in power or attractions; the highest of her kind; as, a queen in society; -- also used figuratively of cities, countries, etc. " This queen of cities." " Albion, queen of isles." Cowper.

4. The fertile, or fully developed, female of social bees, ants, and termites.

5. The most powerful, and except the king the most important, piece in a set of chessmen.

6. A playing card bearing the picture of a queen; as, the queen of spades.

7. A male homosexual, esp. one who is effeminate or dresses in women's clothing. Sometimes pejorative. Queen apple. Etym: [Cf. OE. quyne aple quince apple.] A kind of apple; a queening. "Queen apples and red cherries." Spenser. -- Queen bee (Zoöl.), a female bee, especially the female of the honeybee. See Honeybee. -- Queen conch (Zoöl.), a very large West Indian cameo conch (Cassis cameo). It is much used for making cameos. -- Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king. Blackstone. -- Queen dowager, the widow of a king. -- Queen gold, formerly a revenue of the queen consort of England, arising from gifts, fines, etc. -- Queen mother, a queen dowager who is also mother of the reigning king or queen. -- Queen of May. See May queen, under May. -- Queen of the meadow (Bot.), a European herbaceous plant (Spiræa Ulmaria). See Meadowsweet. -- Queen of the prairie (Bot.), an American herb (Spiræa lobata) with ample clusters of pale pink flowers. -- Queen pigeon (Zoöl.), any one of several species of very large and handsome crested ground pigeons of the genus Goura, native of New Guinea and the adjacent islands. They are mostly pale blue, or ash- blue, marked with white, and have a large occipital crest of spatulate feathers. Called also crowned pigeon, goura, and Victoria pigeon. -- Queen regent, or Queen regnant, a queen reigning in her own right. -- Queen's Bench. See King's Bench. -- Queen's counsel, Queen's evidence. See King's counsel, King's evidence, under King. -- Queen's delight (Bot.), an American plant (Stillinqia sylvatica) of the Spurge family, having an herbaceous stem and a perennial woody root. -- Queen's metal (Metal.), an alloy somewhat resembling pewter or britannia, and consisting essentially of tin with a slight admixture of antimony, bismuth, and lead or copper. -- Queen's pigeon. (Zoöl.) Same as Queen pigeon, above. -- Queen's ware, glazed English earthenware of a cream color. -- Queen's yellow (Old Chem.), a heavy yellow powder consisting of a basic mercuric sulphate; -- formerly called turpetum minerale, or Turbith's mineral.

Part of speech: verb (v.)

To act the part of a queen. Shak.

Part of speech: verb (v.)

To make a queen (or other piece, at the player's discretion) of by moving it to the eighth row; as, to queen a pawn.