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1a tall, solid, vertical post, usually round and made of stone, that supports or decorates a building or stands alone as a monument The temple is supported by marble columns. Nelson's Column in London
- 2a thing shaped like a column a column of smoke (= smoke rising straight up) see spinal column, steering column
- 3(abbreviation col.) one of the vertical sections into which the printed page of a book, newspaper, etc. is divided a column of text a dictionary with two columns per page Put a mark in the appropriate column. Their divorce filled a lot of column inches in the local papers (= got a lot of attention).
- 4a part of a newspaper or magazine that appears regularly and deals with a particular subject or is written by a particular writer the gossip/financial column I always read her column in the local paper.
- 5a series of numbers or words arranged one under the other down a page to add up a column of figures
- 6a long moving line of people or vehicles a long column of troops and tanks see fifth column
Check pronunciation: column