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cue
cue someone in
1. Lit. to give someone a cue; to indicate to someone that the time has come. Now, cue the orchestra director in. All right, cue in the announcer.
2. Fig. to tell someone what is going on. (Almost the same as clue someone in (on something).) I want to know what's going on. Cue me in. Cue in the general about the troop movement.
take one's cue from someone
to use someone else's behavior or reactions as a guide to one's own. (From the theatrical cue as a signal to speak, etc.) If you don't know which spoons to use at the dinner, just take your cue from John. The other children took their cue from Tommy and ignored the new boy.
(right) on cue
as if planned to happen exactly at that moment We were traveling up a narrow river in East Africa when, right on cue, a hippopotamus thrust its head out of the water.
take your cue from somebody/something
also take a cue from somebody/something to be strongly influenced by someone or something else The national assembly takes its cue from the president and seldom challenges her policies. His new tunes take their cues from the music of Africa and Cuba.
cue in
Give information or instructions, for example, She said she'd cue us in on their summer plans. This verbal use of the noun cue in the sense of "guiding suggestion" dates from the 1920s.
take one's cue from
Follow the lead of another, as in I'm not sure what to bring, so I'll take my cue from you. This expression, first recorded in 1622, alludes to the cue giving an actor a signal to speak.
cue in
v.1. To give a signal to someone at a specified time, especially a signal to begin: The conductor cued in each section of the choir one by one. Cue me in when it's time to say my lines.
2. To give information or instructions to someone, such as a latecomer: I cued in my coworker about the items that we discussed at the beginning of the meeting. She cued me in to what happened in the first five minutes of the movie.
cue up
v.1. To position an audio or video recording in readiness for playing: The DJ cued up the next record on the turntable as the song came to an end. I wanted to show scenes from the film during my presentation, so I cued them up ahead of time.
2. To form or get into a waiting line; queue up: The customers cued up for tickets long before the box office was open.