Queen's English

Standard English in England.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Queen's English

(Linguistics) (when the sovereign is female) standard Southern British English

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

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Noun

Queen's English - English as spoken by educated persons in southern England

King's English

English, English language - an Indo-European language belonging to the West Germanic branch; the official language of Britain and the United States and most of the commonwealth countries

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

I can talk the Queen's English (God bless the Queen!), and that's more than most of the people about here can do.

View in context

Queen's English is definitely better as Scots dialects are very hard to understand.

DAILY RECORD DEBATE; Should kids use Scots language?

Those who sounded like chat king Sir Michael Parkinson or Spice Girl Mel B came top, beating the "proper" Queen's English accent.

Yorkshire accent 'is smartest'

The research showed 51% actively discouraged their youngsters from using an accent while 33% encouraged them to speak "the Queen's English".

Parents' fears on accents

In a UK nationwide study released today the Queen's English was judged by far the most popular voice for sat nav.

Orlroight bab, if yo goo roight, Oi'll 'ave driven yo round the bend...*; ACCENT: Brummie lilt voted worst voice for satellite navigation systems

All I can think is that our presenters and those they interview are getting very lax at using the Queen's English.

Letter: No kidding

The velvet-toned Queen's English of BT's speaking clock is being replaced by the more distinctive Midland accent of Lenny Henry (left).

Lenny raises speaking clock's tone

The far right party says, ``Indians and Bangladeshis who speak the Queen's English are cheaper to employ than the Welsh, Kentish and Scots and so hundreds of companies either are relocating or already have relocated to hot-spots such as Bangalore, Dhaka and Bombay.''

BNP warned to keep out of dispute over transfer of work; CALL CENTRES: Union leaders and politicians hit back at right wing party getting involved

It beat into second place the plummy tones of the "Queen's English" or Received Pronunciation.

Brummie rated low IQ twang

"I'd prefer a well-spoken voice, like Queen's English," he said.

City twang would put us on the road to hell

Even the Queen's English is no longer accepted as the proper way to use our language, but then it never was.

`Chat show where the words are the stars'

This year, with Paul `Gazza' Gascoigne lining up alongside Des Lynam on ITV and Martin O'Neill with Gary Lineker on the BBC, the Queen's English - together with any lingering sense of logic in television commentary - is sure to be in for a battering.

Westgate: Not so wise