queue: [16] Etymologically a queue is simply a ‘tail’. That was the meaning of its Latin ancestor cauda, a word of unknown origin which has also given English caudal ‘of a tail’ [17] and, via Italian, coda [18] (literally a ‘tail’-piece). To begin with in English queue (acquired via French) was used only as a technical term in heraldry for a ‘tail’. It was not until the 18th century that metaphorical applications started to appear: to a ‘billiard stick’ (now spelled cue) and a ‘pigtail’. ‘Line of people waiting’ (which has never caught on in American English) emerged in the early 19th century. => coda
queue (n.)
late 15c., "band attached to a letter with seals dangling on the free end," from French queue "a tail," from Old French cue, coe "tail" (12c., also "penis"), from Latin coda (dialectal variant or alternative form of cauda) "tail," of unknown origin. Also in literal use in 16c. English, "tail of a beast," especially in heraldry. The Middle English metaphoric extension to "line of dancers" (c. 1500) led to extended sense of "line of people, etc." (1837). Also used 18c. in sense of "braid of hair hanging down behind" (first attested 1748).
queue (v.)
"to stand in a line," 1893, from queue (n.). Earlier "put hair up in a braid" (1777). Related: Queued; queueing. Churchill is said to have coined Queuetopia (1950), to describe Britain under Labour or Socialist rule.
双语例句
1. The queue for places at the school has never been longer.
排队申请上这所学校的人数达到历史最高峰。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Make sure you join the queue inside the bank.
在银行里一定要排队。
来自柯林斯例句
3. We all had to queue up for our ration books.
我们都得排队领取定量配给票证薄。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Behind him was a long queue of angry motorists.
在他的身后，愤怒的司机排成了长龙。
来自柯林斯例句
5. There was still a queue for tickets on the night.
