COLUMN • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Column

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/kˈɑləm/ Listen

noun

Column n.

1.

(Arch.) A kind of pillar; a cylindrical or polygonal support for a roof, ceiling, statue, etc., somewhat ornamented, and usually composed of base, shaft, and capital. See Order.

2.

Anything resembling, in form or position, a column in architecture; an upright body or mass; a shaft or obelisk; as, a column of air, of water, of mercury, etc.; the Column Vendôme; the spinal column.

3.

(Mil.)

(a)

A body of troops formed in ranks, one behind the other; contradistinguished from line. Compare Ploy, and Deploy.

(b)

A small army.

4.

(Naut.) A number of ships so arranged as to follow one another in single or double file or in squadrons; in distinction from "line", where they are side by side.

5.

(Print.) A perpendicular set of lines, not extending across the page, and separated from other matter by a rule or blank space; as, a column in a newspaper.

6.

(Arith.) A perpendicular line of figures.

7.

(Bot.) The body formed by the union of the stamens in the Mallow family, or of the stamens and pistil in the orchids.

8.

(Print.) One of a series of articles written in a periodical, usually under the same title and at regular intervals; it may be written and signed by one or more authors, or may appear pseudonymously or anonymously, as an editorial column. "Safire's weekly column On Language in the New York Times is usually more interesting (and probably more accurate) than his political column."

Attached column. See under Attach, v. t.

Clustered column. See under Cluster, v. t.

Column rule, a thin strip of brass separating columns of type in the form, and making a line between them in printing.

See images of 'Column'

Etymology of 'Column'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Column" Quotes from Famous Books

... so sorry Col. Blank is dead! Why, on Cheat Mountain, he seemed so strong and well! He was never tired on the marches, and hardly ever rode, but walked at the head of the column so ...

— Outpost • J.G. Austin

... to the cold menace of the gun-muzzle pressing against the top of his spinal column. He straightened sullenly. Racey, transferring the gun-muzzle to the small of McFluke's back, stooped swiftly, drew out McFluke's knife and tossed it ...

— The Heart of the Range • William Patterson White

... lighted only by a trap-door, and is very damp. The next question was of supplies. I had nothing left but a sack of rice-flour, and no manner of cooking I had heard or invented contrived to make it eatable. A column of recipes for making delicious preparations of it had been going the rounds of Confederate papers. I tried them all; they resulted only in brick-bats, or sticky paste. H. sallied out on a hunt for provisions, and when he returned ...

— Strange True Stories of Louisiana • George Washington Cable

... of July, 1863, under a heavy cloud of dust which hung high in air over the approach of the Baltimore Pike to Gettysburg, the long column of the reserve artillery of the Potomac army rumbled along the road, and more and more clearly the weary men heard the sound of cannon. About ten in the morning the advance guard was checked and the line came to a halt. James Penhallow, who since dawn had been urging on his command, rode in haste ...

— Westways • S. Weir Mitchell

... permanent foundation for the cross of Christ and the arms of France. On the ninth of April, they were all assembled on a ridge slightly elevated, for the celebration of this all-important ceremony. First, they raised a massive column, at the foot of which they buried a leaden plate, bearing an inscription in Latin, to the ...

— The Adventures of the Chevalier De La Salle and His Companions, in Their Explorations of the Prairies, Forests, Lakes, and Rivers, of the New World, and Their Interviews with the Savage Tribes, Two Hu • John S. C. Abbott

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