cue
pronunciation
How to pronounce cue in British English:
UK [kjuː]
How to pronounce cue in American English:
US [kjuː]
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- Noun:
- an actor's line that immediately precedes and serves as a reminder for some action or speech
- evidence that helps to solve a problem
- a stimulus that provides information about what to do
- sports implement consisting of a tapering rod used to strike a cue ball in pool or billiards
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- Verb:
- assist (somebody acting or reciting) by suggesting the next words of something forgotten or imperfectly learned
Word Origin
- cue
- cue: Cue has several meanings in English, and it is not clear whether they can all be considered to be the same word. In the case of ‘pigtail’ and ‘billiard stick’, both of which appeared in the 18th century, cue is clearly just a variant spelling of queue, but although cue ‘actor’s prompt’ [16] has been referred by some to the same source (on the grounds that it represents the ‘tail’ – from French queue ‘tail’ – of the previous actor’s speech) there is no direct evidence for this.Another suggestion is that it represents qu, an abbreviation of Latin quando ‘when’ which was written in actor’s scripts to remind them when to come in.=> queue
- cue (v.)
- 1928, from cue (n.1). Related: Cued, cueing.
- cue (n.1)
- "stage direction," 1550s, from Q, which was used 16c., 17c. in stage plays to indicate actors' entrances, probably as an abbreviation of Latin quando "when" (see quandary) or a similar Latin adverb. Shakespeare's printed texts have it as both Q and cue.
- cue (n.2)
- "billiard stick," 1749, variant of queue (n.). Cue ball first recorded 1881.
Example
- 1. Mr carker took his cue , and smiled the more .
- 2. After a few days he was able to isolate his cue : time .
- 3. The economists of his day took their cue from jeremy bentham and his " utilitarian " philosophy .
- 4. This means that the time of day , place or cue automatically starts you towards grabbing your bag and heading out .
- 5. Barton went to irving kahn , a vice president at 20th century fox studios , with the idea of connecting cue cards in a motorized scroll , so he could rely on prompts without risking an on-screen blunder .