column

Definitions

1. 1.Anything resembling, in form or position, a column an 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.
2. 2.(Mil.) (a) A body of troops formed in ranks, one behind the other; -- contradistinguished from line. Compare Ploy, and Deploy. (b) A small army.
3. 3.(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.
4. 4.(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.
5. 5.(Arith.) A perpendicular line of figures.
6. 6.(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.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Related questions

• What does "column" mean?
• What is another word for "column"?

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is column.

• What is (a) A body of troops formed in ranks, one behind the other; -- contradistinguished from line. Compare Ploy, and Deploy. (b) A small army called?
• What is 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 called?
• What is 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 called?
• What is a perpendicular line of figures called?