Column

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Column \Col"umn\, n. [L. columna, fr. columen, culmen, fr.
     cellere (used only in comp.), akin to E. excel, and prob. to
     holm. See {Holm}, and cf. {Colonel}.]
     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}.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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 Vend[^o]me; the spinal column.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     6. (Arith.) A perpendicular line of figures.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     7. (Bot.) The body formed by the union of the stamens in the
        Mallow family, or of the stamens and pistil in the
        orchids.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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." --P.
        Cassidy
        [PJC]
  
     {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.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  column
       n 1: a line of (usually military) units following one after
            another
       2: a vertical glass tube used in column chromatography; a
          mixture is poured in the top and washed through a
          stationary substance where components of the mixture are
          adsorbed selectively to form colored bands [syn: {chromatography
          column}]
       3: a linear array of numbers one above another
       4: anything tall and thin approximating the shape of a column
          or tower; "the test tube held a column of white powder";
          "a tower of dust rose above the horizon"; "a thin pillar
          of smoke betrayed their campsite" [syn: {tower}, {pillar}]
       5: an article giving opinions or perspectives [syn: {editorial},
           {newspaper column}]
       6: a vertical structure standing alone and not supporting
          anything (as a monument or a column of air) [syn: {pillar}]
       7: (architeture) a tall cylindrical vertical upright and used
          to support a structure [syn: {pillar}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  212 Moby Thesaurus words for "column":
     KP, antenna tower, arcade, arch, army, army group, article, atlas,
     baluster, balustrade, banister, barbican, barrel, barrow, base,
     battalion, battery, battle group, belfry, bell tower, bole, book,
     boundary stone, brace, brass, brigade, bust, buttress, cadre,
     cairn, campanile, caravan, caryatid, cask, cavalcade, cenotaph,
     chapter, clause, cohort, colonnade, colonnette, colossus,
     combat command, combat team, company, corps, cortege, cromlech,
     cross, cup, cupola, cyclolith, cylinder, cylindroid, dado, derrick,
     detachment, detail, die, division, dolmen, dome, dress parade,
     drum, fascicle, field army, field train, file, fire tower,
     flying column, flyover, footstalk, footstone, funeral, garrison,
     grave, gravestone, headstone, hoarstone, inscription, installment,
     jack, kitchen police, lantern, legion, lighthouse, line, livraison,
     maniple, march past, marker, martello, martello tower, mast,
     mausoleum, megalith, memento, memorial, memorial arch,
     memorial column, memorial statue, memorial stone, menhir, minaret,
     monolith, monument, motorcade, mound, mule train, necrology,
     newel-post, obelisk, obituary, observation tower, organization,
     outfit, pack train, pagoda, parade, paragraph, part, passage,
     pedestal, pedicel, peduncle, peristyle, phalanx, phrase, pier,
     pilaster, pile, piling, pillar, pinnacle, pipe, plaque, platoon,
     plinth, pole, pomp, portico, posse, post, prize, procession,
     promenade, prop, pylon, pyramid, queen-post, rank, regiment,
     reliquary, remembrance, review, ribbon, roll, roller,
     rostral column, rouleau, section, serial, shaft, shore, shrine,
     skimmington, skyscraper, socle, spire, squad, squadron, staff,
     stalk, stanchion, stand, standard, standpipe, stay, steeple, stela,
     stem, stone, stream, string, stupa, subbase, surbase, tablet,
     tactical unit, task force, telamon, television mast, testimonial,
     tomb, tombstone, tope, tour, tower, train, troop, trophy, trunk,
     tube, turret, underpinning, unit, upright, verse, volume,
     water tower, windmill tower, wing