Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Column"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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}.
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.
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.
{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.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (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: a tall cylindrical vertical upright [syn: {pillar}]
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