Forms: 5 colompne, 6 columpne, collumne, 6–8 colume, (6 coolume), 7 colomb, -umb, (cullumne), 7–8 colum, 5–7 -umne, 7– column. [orig. a. OF. colompne, colombe:—L. columna (columpna), to which the current Eng. spelling is assimilated. Mod.F. colonne is assimilated to It. colonna: cf. COLONNE. L. columna was a collateral form of columen, culmen elevated object, pillar, column, f. root cel- (-cellĕre), whence celsus high, lofty.]
1. Arch. A cylindrical or slightly tapering body of considerably greater length than diameter, erected vertically as a support for some part of a building; spec. in the classic orders, a round pillar with base, shaft and capital supporting the entablature; in Gothic and Norman architecture applied to the pillar or pier supporting the arch. Sometimes standing alone as a monument: e.g., Trajan’s Column at Rome, Nelson’s Column in London, the Column of the Place Vendôme, Paris.
1481. Caxton, Myrr., III. xi. 158. In thyse grete colompnes or pylers … were grauen the vii scyences.
1563. Shute, Archit., B ij a. Wel practised in their measures of … their Columes.
1592. R. D., Hypnerotomachia, 40 b. In euery corner stoode a Chorinthian Collumne.
1606. Holland, Sueton., 35. They erected in the Forum a solide Columne [marg. note or Piller] almost 20. foote high, of Numidian Marble.
1624. Wotton, Archit., in Reliq. Wotton (1651), 225. Pillars, which we may likewise call Columnes (for the word among Artificers is almost naturalised).
1662. Gerbier, Princ. (1665), 4. The Orders of Colombs.
1712. Hearne, Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), III. 351. The Colum erected in Memory of the Dreadfull Fire of London.
1732. Pope, Ep. Bathurst, 339. Where London’s Column, pointing at the skies, Like a tall bully, lifts the head, and lies.
1813. Scott, Trierm., III. xxi. Where the shatter’d columns lie, Showing Carthage once had been.
1879. Sir G. Scott, Lect. Archit., I. 148. In no feature is the difference between Classic and Gothic architecture so strongly marked as in the column.
b. A natural columnar formation, esp. of igneous rock.
1775. Phil. Trans., LXV. I. 5. Two groups of prismatic basaltine columns.
1871. Lyell, Student’s Geol. (1885), 470. The columns [of basalt] are sometimes straight, at others curiously curved and twisted.
1882. Geikie, Text-bk. Geol. (1885), 493. In the more perfectly columnar basalts, the columns are sometimes articulated.
c. fig. Support or prop. (cf. pillar.)
a. 1619. Fotherby, Atheom., II. vii. § 6 (1622), 273. Monarchies which were the highest Columnes of Maiestie vpon the Earth.
1725. Pope, Odyss., IV. 963. Now from my fond embrace, by tempests torn, Our other column of the state is born.
1862. Maurice, Mor. & Met. Philos., IV. ix. § 25. 548. He did not require a religion to be the column of society.
d. Anything of columnar shape or appearance.
1673. Grew, Anat. Roots, iii. § 29. 68. In others, they [vessels] stand not so much in Pricks, as Portions or Colums, as in Cumfry. Ibid., 69. Sometimes Columns and Chords are compounded, as in Burnet.
1859. Tennyson, Geraint & Enid, 74. Who, moving, cast the coverlet aside, And bared the knotted column of his throat.
2. a. Calico-printing. A hollow copper cylinder used for fixing the colors of printed fabrics by means of steam. b. Distilling. A vessel containing a vertical series of chambers, used in continuous distillation.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, I. 652. s.v. Calico-printing, The lower end of the column terminates in a pipe, mounted with a stopcock for regulating the admission of steam…. The pieces [of calico] are lapped round this column, but not in immediate contact with it. Ibid., II. 55 s.v. Distillation, The vapours from B rise through the distillatory column C, and D the rectificatory column.
3. transf. An upright mass of water, air, mercury, etc., resembling a column in shape; a narrow mass rising high in the air, as a column of smoke.
1671. Milton, Samson, 27. As in a fiery column charioting His godlike presence.
1692. Bentley, Confut. Atheism, II. (1693), 23 (J.). The whole weight of any Column of the Atmosphere.
1715. Desaguliers, Fires Impr., 50. There are … two Columns in the Chimney, one of rising Smoak, and the other of descending Air.
1732. Pope, Ep. Bathurst, 255. The waters … Not to the skies in useless columns tost.
1833. Brewster, Nat. Magic, viii. 183. The production of musical sounds by the vibrations of a column of air in a pipe is familiar to every person.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 90. The downward pressure of the column of mercury [in the tube].
4. One of the narrow divisions of a sheet of paper, page of a book, etc., formed by vertical lines or separating spaces; used for denominations of figures (as in money accounts), lists of names in a schedule, etc., or for the sake of convenience in arranging the printed matter on a wide page; also, a narrow block of letterpress so arranged, or a series of letters or figures arranged vertically. In pl. said esp. of the vertical divisions in a newspaper or journal, as receptacles for the news, etc., which ‘fill the columns’ of these publications.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 88. Columne of a lefe [Pynson of a boke], columna.
1594. Blundevil, Exerc., I. ii. (ed. 7), 6. I adde the 2l to the columne of pounds.
1599. Thynne, Animadv. (1875), 6. His editione … beinge fyrst printed but in one coolume in a page.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., xx. (1627), 229. A little paper-booke, made for the purpose, with sundry columnes in each page.
1644. Nye, Gunnery (1670), 88. Look in the second Table, and in the Cullumne of 3 pound.
1706. Hearne, Collect., 14 March (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), I. 204. He … is resolv’d to print … in columns.
1727. Swift, Gulliver, III. ii. 186. I wrote down a great number of words in columns.
1824. J. Johnson, Typogr., I. 370. The volume is printed in black-letter, in double columns.
1832. Act 2 & 3 Will. IV., c. 64 § 26. The respective counties … mentioned in the fourth column of the said schedule.
1870. Miss Bridgman, R. Lynne, II. iv. 83. ‘C. S. was earnestly entreated to return to his wife,’… in the second column of the Times.
1881. Burnside & Panton, Theory Equat., xi. (1886), 232. Any series [of constituents] such as a1 a2 a3 … an arranged vertically, form a column [of the determinant].
Mod. Our columns are always open to correspondence on this subject. Foolscap paper ruled with money columns.
† 5. A vertical line or square bracket in printing.
1647. Jer. Taylor, Dissuas. Popery, II. II. § 3. These words … make a distinct quotation, and ought by the printer to have been divided by a colume.
1658. Collection of Offices, C, Omitting so much of either as is included in the columnes.
† 6. One of the lights in a mullioned window.
a. 1697. Aubrey, MS. Life R. Kettel, in H. G. Woods, Religio Loci (1888), 12. The windows of the Chapel … were good Gothique painting, in every column a figure.
7. Bot. The upright cylindrical structure formed by the coalescence of the filaments, as in the mallow, or by the union of the stamens with the style, as in orchids.
[1676. Grew, Anat. Flowers, iii. § 15. The Attire … not consisting of several little Thecæ, upon so many Pedicils, as is described; but is all one entire Part, like a thick Columna in the midst of the Flower.]
1807. J. E. Smith, Phys. Bot., 460. The style of the Orchideæ has been called a column.
1830. Lindley, Outl. Princ. Bot., 59.
1869. Oliver, Elem. Bot., II. 264. The adherent anther, together with the rostellum and stigma, constitute the column of the Orchis flower.
b. = COLUMELLA 3 a.
1776. Withering, Brit. Plants, II. 824. A capsule cut open horizontally to shew … the column in the Center, to which the partitions are connected.
1800. Hull, Elem. Bot., I. 73. Column. A centre body extending from the bottom of the case to the top of the lid.
1870. Hooker, Stud. Flora, 234. Seeds 1–2 in each cell, attached to the central column.
8. Anat. and Phys. A name given to various parts of the body (usually translating L. columna); e.g., ‘fleshy columns of the heart’ (columnæ carneæ), ‘column of the nose’ (columna nasi, the anterior part of the septum); esp. spinal or vertebral column, the spine.
1831. R. Knox, Cloquet’s Anat., 750. Before the vertebral column.
1866. Huxley, Phys., xi. (1872), 261. Along the spinal column … the spinal nerves give off branches.
9. Zool. a. The body or stem of a sea-anemone. b. The jointed peduncle of a stalked crinoid.
1888. Rolleston & Jackson, Anim. Life, 239. (Sea anemone). At the limbus the base passes into the wall or column, which is naturally more or less straight.
10. Mil. A formation of troops narrow laterally and deep from front to rear; the usual order in marching.
1677. Earl Orrery, Art of War, 69. I would march my Army in two or three several Bodies divers wayes, which the French call Columes, but we, and I think more properly, Lines.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., s.v., To march in a Column, is to march a great depth, or in a long File, instead of making a large Front.
1830. E. S. N. Campbell, Dict. Mil. Sc., 40. In the close column the companies of a Battalion are formed in rear of each other at a distance of Two paces. Ibid. The Open Column occupies the same extent of ground as when in Line, minus the front of the leading division.
1881. G. A. Henty, Cornet of Horse, xvi. 165. He [Marlborough] formed in a conspicuous position, a heavy column of attack, opposite the French left.
11. Naut. A body or division of ships.
1805. in Nicolas, Disp. Nelson (1846), VII. 166, note. Fleet formed in order of sailing in two columns, the van led by the Victory Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson.
1875. Bedford, Sailor’s Pocket-bk., i. (ed. 2), 21. A Column means any number of ships in a distinct group, whether in line ahead, abreast, or otherwise.
1882. Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 113. Columns of Division or Sub-division … denote that the ships composing a fleet are formed in divisions or sub-divisions.
12. Comb., as column-encircled, -like, -scattering adjs., column-wise adv.; column-lathe, a lathe fixed on a vertical extensible post, used by dentists and watchmakers; column-rule (Printing), a thin piece of brass (‘rule’) used to separate columns of type (Simmonds, Dict. Trade, 1858).
1799. Southey, Eng. Eclog., VI. Yon holly-hock … lifting, column-like, a stem Bright with its roseate blossoms.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., I. liv. The column-scattering bay’net.
1822. Bentham, Wks., X. 535. English and Greek shall be printed column-wise.
1835. Willis, Pencillings, I. xii. 90. The whole area of the column-encircled front.
