Past tense of queue, meaning to form or wait in a line, or to arrange items in sequential order. In computing, it refers to placing data or tasks in a waiting list for processing.
From French 'queue' meaning tail, from Latin 'cauda' (tail). The metaphor of a tail extended to mean a line of people or things following one behind another, first recorded in English in the 18th century.
The British are famous for queuing, but the word itself comes from the French observation that waiting lines resemble animal tails. In computing, queues follow the same 'first in, first out' principle as a polite British queue - no cutting allowed!
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