Definition of column

• n. - 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.
• n. - 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 Vendome; the spinal column.
• n. - A body of troops formed in ranks, one behind the other; -- contradistinguished from line. Compare Ploy, and Deploy.
• n. - A small army.
• n. - 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.
• n. - 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.
• n. - A perpendicular line of figures.
• n. - The body formed by the union of the stamens in the Mallow family, or of the stamens and pistil in the orchids.