column
Definitions
General English
- noun a tall post, especially one made of stone
- noun a narrow block of printing on a page such as in a newspaper
- noun a series of numbers, one written or printed under the other
Aviation
- noun a body of fluid or solid with a tall, narrow shape
- noun an area of slack pressure gradient between two centres of high or low pressure
Commerce
- noun a section of printed words in a newspaper or magazine
Computing
- noun a series of characters, numbers or lines of text printed one under the other
Construction
- A long, relatively slender, supporting pillar. A column is usually loaded axially in compression.
Electronics
- A vertical arrangement or series. For instance, a column of pixels or digits. This contrasts with a row, which is a horizontal arrangement or series.
Information & Library Science
- noun a vertical section of writing in a book, newspaper or magazine
- noun a regular section or article in a newspaper or magazine by the same writer or on the same subject
Media Studies
- noun the arrangement of newspaper copy on a page in a vertical strip.
- abbreviationcol.
Military
- noun a tactical formation consisting of several files of soldiers moving forward together one behind the other
- noun troops or vehicles moving in column formation
Real Estate
- noun an upright support shaped like a long cylinder
Food
General Science
- noun a high pass between two mountains
Origin & History of “column”
The notion underlying column is of ‘height, command, extremity’. It comes, via Old French colomne, from Latin columna ‘pillar’, which was probably a derivative of columen, culmen ‘top, summit’ (from which English also gets culminate). It goes back ultimately to a base *kol-, *kel-, distant ancestor of English excel and hill.
The word’s application to vertical sections of printed matter dates from the 15th century, but its transference to that which is written (as in ‘write a weekly newspaper column’) is a 20th-century development.
The word’s application to vertical sections of printed matter dates from the 15th century, but its transference to that which is written (as in ‘write a weekly newspaper column’) is a 20th-century development.
