queue

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.
   1. A sequence of stored data or programs awaiting processing.
   2. 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, cōda.]

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 cōda, 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 cōda 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.

An example of a continuous-time Markov chain (see Markov process). The properties of queues are much studied by analysts of stochastic processes. Three components of a queuing system are the inter-arrival times (a Markov process (M), a more general process (G), or a pre-determined process (D)), the service times (also Markovian, general, or predetermined), and the number of servers (one or more). The standard nomenclature for queues describes them as M/M/1, M/D/1, M/G/1, or G/M/k queues as appropriate.

The basic quantities of interest are the expected values of the number in the queue, the number waiting (i.e. not being served) in the queue, the queueing time, and the waiting time (the sum of the queueing and service times).

For an M/G/1 queue, with arrival rate λ and with 1/μ and σ² denoting the mean and variance of the service time distribution and with

then the expected value of the number in the system (queueing or being served) is n̄ given by the Pollaczek–Khintchine formula


A useful general result, with t̄ denoting the average time spent in the system, is Little's formula which states that λt̄=n̄.

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Pronounced "Q." A temporary holding place for data. See queuing, message queue and print queue.

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Tasks fed to a computer and waiting to be processed in the sequence in which they were submitted.

1. Line waiting to be served.

2. In computer use, data structure from which items are removed in the same order in which they were entered. Series of items such as Packets or print jobs waiting to be processed. For example, a print queue holds files waiting to be printed.

noun

A group of people or things arranged in a row: column, file, line, rank¹, row¹, string, tier. See group.

n

Definition: sequence
Antonyms: disorganization

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IN BRIEF: A line of persons waiting. Also: A long braid of hair falling down the back.

The queue for the newly released film stretched all the way around the block.

Tutor's tip: He stood in the "queue" (line of people waiting) with his "cue" (stick used in billiards) stick and waited for his turn to play.

Dansk (Danish)
n. - kø, hårpisk
v. intr. - stille sig i kø

idioms:

• queue up    stille sig i kø, stå i kø

Nederlands (Dutch)
rij, file, vlecht/staart (haar), in de rij gaan staan, een rij vormen

Français (French)
n. - (GB) queue
v. intr. - faire la queue, attendre en ligne (taxis), (fig) se précipiter (pour)

idioms:

• queue up    faire la queue, attendre en ligne, (fig) se précipiter (pour)

Deutsch (German)
n. - Reihe, Schlange, Zopf, (EDV) Warteschlange
v. - sich anstellen, Schlange stehen

idioms:

• queue up    Schlange stehen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ουρά (αναμενόντων), σειρά (προτεραιότητας)
v. - σχηματίζω ουρά, μπαίνω ή περιμένω σε ουρά

idioms:

• queue up    κάνω/σχηματίζω ουρά

Italiano (Italian)
coda, fare la coda, ingorgo di traffico

idioms:

• queue up    fare la coda

Português (Portuguese)
n. - fila (f), trança (f)
v. - ficar na fila, trançar

idioms:

• queue up    entrar na fila

Русский (Russian)
становиться в очередь, очередь

idioms:

• queue up    становиться в очередь, стоять в очереди

Español (Spanish)
n. - cola, fila, hilera, coleta, trenza
v. intr. - hacer cola

idioms:

• queue up    hacer cola

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - kö, stångpiska
v. - ställa sig/stå i kö

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
辫子, 长队, 排队

idioms:

• queue up    排队

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 辮子, 長隊
v. intr. - 排隊

idioms:

• queue up    排隊

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 땋은 머리, 줄, 대기 행렬
v. intr. - (머리를) 땋아 내리다, 줄지어 차례를 기다리다, 줄에 끼이다

idioms:

• queue up    줄에 늘어서 기다리다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 列, 弁髪
v. - 列を作る

idioms:

• queue up    並んで順番を待つ

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) صف, طابور, شئ ينتظر إليه الكثيرون, ضفيرة (فعل) يصطف, يصف في رتل‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮תור, טור מכוניות, שורה, צמה (של גבר)‬
v. intr. - ‮עמד בתור‬

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