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]

	

	column
    n 1: a line of 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: column,
       chromatography column]
    3: a vertical array of numbers or other information; "he added a
       column of numbers"
    4: anything that approximates 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: column, tower, pillar]
    5: an article giving opinions or perspectives [syn: column,
       editorial, newspaper column]
    6: a vertical cylindrical structure standing alone and not
       supporting anything (such as a monument) [syn: column,
       pillar]
    7: (architecture) a tall vertical cylindrical structure standing
       upright and used to support a structure [syn: column,
       pillar]
    8: a page or text that is vertically divided; "the newspaper
       devoted several columns to the subject"; "the bookkeeper used
       pages that were divided into columns"
    9: any tubular or pillar-like supporting structure in the body

	

	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

	

	column

   1.  A named slice through a database table that
   includes the same field of each row.  For example, a
   telephone directory table might have a row for each person
   with a name column and a telephone number column.

   2.  A line of memory cells in a dynamic
   random-access memory, that is selected by a particular column
   address.

   (2007-10-12)