column
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From Middle English columne (“column (of a page)”), which from Latin columna (“a column, pillar, post”), originally a collateral form of columen, contraction culmen (“a pillar, top, crown, summit”), o-grade form from a Proto Indo-European root *kʷel- (“going around”). Akin to Latin collis (“a hill”), celsus (“high”), probably to Ancient Greek κολοφών (kolophōn, “top, summit”).
[edit] Pronunciation
- (RP) IPA: /ˈkɒləm/, SAMPA: /"kQl@m/
- (US) enPR: kŏl'əm, IPA: /ˈkɑːləm/
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Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɒləm
[edit] Noun
column (plural columns)
- A solid upright structure designed usually to support a larger structure above it, such as a roof or horizontal beam, but sometimes for decoration.
- A vertical line of entries in a table, usually read from top to bottom.
- A body of troops or army vehicles, usually strung out along a road.
- A body of text meant to be read line by line, especially in printed material that has multiple adjacent such on a single page.
- It was too hard to read the text across the whole page, so I split it into two columns.
- A unit of width, especially of advertisements, in a periodical, equivalent to the width of a usual column of text.
- Each column inch costs $300 a week; this ad is four columns by three inches, so will run $3600 a week.
- (by extension) A recurring feature in a periodical, especially an opinion piece, especially by a single author or small rotating group of authors, or on a single theme.
- His initial foray into print media was as the author of a weekly column in his elementary-school newspaper.
- Something having similar vertical form or structure to the things mentioned above, such as a spinal column.
[edit] Synonyms
[edit] Antonyms
- (line of table entries): row (which is horizontal)
[edit] Hypernyms
- (upright structure): beam
[edit] Translations
upright supporting member
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vertical line of entries in a table
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a vertical body of text
column of troops
newspaper column
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something having similar form or structure to the things mentioned above
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
[edit] External links
- column in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- column in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
