Word.ws English Dictionary

quene

quene is the obsolete spelling of queen.

Meaning of queen

Noun

queen (plural queens)

  1. The wife, consort, or widow of a king.
    • The divorced king was looking for a new queen.
  2. A female monarch.
    • But our mercifull Queene Elizabeth hath not burned the popiſh prieſtes on the alters where they committed idolatrie in ſaying of Maſſe, and worſhipped a piece of breade for the bodie of Chriſte (which ſhee might haue done if ſhee would) and yet you count not her for a godly and mercifull Queene.1582, Thomas Lupton, The Christian Against the Jesuite, London, retrieved 14 Jan 2022, page 50v
  3. The Virgin Mary (especially in formulations such as Queen of Heaven, Queen of Glory).
    • […] and yet I will not ſay but amongſt duſt there is Pearle found, and in hard rockes Dyamonds of great value, and ſo amongſt many women there are ſome good, as that gracious and glorious Queene of all woman kinde the Virgin Mary the mother of al bliſſe, what wun her honour, but an humble minde and...1620, Thomas Tell-Troth [pseudonym of Joseph Swetnam], The Araignment of Lewd, Idle, Froward, and Unconstant Women: Or the Vanitie of Them, Choose You Whether, London, published 1807, retrieved 14...
  4. An excellent woman.
    • Always look after that girl, doc. She's a queen!1915 October, Willa Sibert Cather, chapter XIX, in The Song of the Lark, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company […], →OCLC, part I (Friends of Childhood), page 149
    Synonyms:
    goddess
  5. A woman pre-eminent in a particular group or field.
    • But now I was the Lord / Of this faire manſion,maſter of my ſeruants, / Queene ore my ſelfe : and euen now,but now.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    Synonyms:
    goddess
  6. (slang) An attractive woman; a female partner in a romantic relationship.
    • Know you the town is full of folks?
      Know you the shows are full of queens?
      That every mail is full of jokes
      Born of the nation's brightest beans?1914, Franklin P. Adams, By and Large, Garden City, New York: Doulbleday, Page & Company, retrieved 15 Jan 2022, page 142
    Synonyms:
    goddess, honey

See all 32 meanings of queen

Forms of quene

pluralquenes

Questions about quene

What is quene the obsolete spelling of?
Quene is the obsolete spelling of queen.

Words near quene in the dictionary

  1. quenchlessness
  2. quencht
  3. quenchy
  4. quenda
  5. quendas
  6. quene
  7. quenelle
  8. quenelled
  9. quenelles
  10. quenelling
  11. Quenemo

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: quene (page history and authors); queen (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “quene.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/quene. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.