cue
An action or event that is a signal for somebody to do something.
Noun
- An action or event that is a signal for somebody to do something.
- This time Cudicini was left helpless when Natcho stepped up to expertly curl the ball into the top corner. That was the cue for further pressure from the Russian side and it took further Cudicini saves to keep the score...
- The last words of a play actor's speech, serving as an intimation for the next actor to speak; any word or words which serve to remind an actor to speak or to do something; a catchword.
- When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer. - c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the...
- A marker or signal that triggers something, such as the start of an audio recording.
- A hint or intimation.
- Give them [the servants] their cue to attend in two lines as he leaves the house. - 1731 (date written; published 1745), [Jonathan] Swift, Directions to Servants […], London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], and M. Cooper,...
- Humour; temper of mind.
Origin
From earlier qu, abbreviation of Latin quandō (“when”), marked on actor's play copy where they were to begin.
Forms
Derived
autocue cuebid cue card cue game cueist cueless cueman cue mark cuer cue sheet cuesport cue sport cuestick cue-to-cue curlicue miscue on cue postcue precue retrocue right on cue sensory cue social cue take one's cue from
Noun Entry 2
- The name of the Latin script letter Q/q.
- "My name is Quinn," said Quinn. "Cue-you-eye-en-en." - 2008, John Clark Pratt, Vietnam Voices: Perspectives on the War Years, 1941–1975, page 315:
- A small portion of bread or beer; the quantity bought with a farthing or half farthing and noted with a q (for Latin quadrāns (“farthing”)) in the buttery books.
Origin
From Middle English cu (used for half a farthing, from q as an abbreviation for Latin quadrāns (“quarter of an as”)), from Latin cū, kū. Compare French ku.
Forms
Derived
Noun ball games, billiards
- A straight tapering stick used to hit the balls in various games.
- The tail; the end of a thing; especially, a tail-like twist of hair worn at the back of the head; a queue.
- Fat, short, radiant, General Chattesworth—in full, artillery uniform—was there, smiling, and making little speeches to the ladies, and bowing stiffly from his hips upward—his great cue playing all the time up and down...
Origin
Variant of queue, from French queue (“tail”).
Forms
Derived
Verb Entry 4
- To give someone a cue signal.
- Cue the cameraman, and action!
- The episode also opens with an inspired bit of business for Homer, who blithely refuses to acquiesce to an elderly neighbor’s utterly reasonable request that he help make the process of selling her house easier by...
- To spark or provoke.
- These techniques can cue an open dialogue with your interviewer.
- The teenager, as beloved a full-back as any in these parts since Danny McGrain was tearing it up, cut in, shot and saw his attempt deflected in off Sterling's boot. Cue more pandemonium. - 2016 September 28, Tom...
Forms
Derived
cueable cue in cue off cue up miscue postcue precue retrocue
Verb ball games, billiards
- To take aim on the cue ball with the cue and hit it.
- To form into a cue; to braid; to twist.