Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Column \Col"umn\, n. [L. columna, fr. columen, culmen, fr.
   cellere (used only in comp.), akin to E. excel, and prob. to
   holm. See {Holm}, and cf. {Colonel}.]
   1. (Arch.) 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}.

   2. 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 Vend[^o]me; the spinal column.

   3. (Mil.)
      (a) A body of troops formed in ranks, one behind the
          other; -- contradistinguished from {line}. Compare
          {Ploy}, and {Deploy}.
      (b) A small army.

   4. (Naut.) 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.

   5. (Print.) 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.

   6. (Arith.) A perpendicular line of figures.

   7. (Bot.) The body formed by the union of the stamens in the
      Mallow family, or of the stamens and pistil in the
      orchids.

   {Attached column}. See under {Attach}, v. t.

   {Clustered column}. See under {Cluster}, v. t.

   {Column rule}, a thin strip of brass separating columns of
      type in the form, and making a line between them in
      printing.

Source : WordNet®

column
     n 1: a line of (usually military) units following one after
          another
     2: a vertical glass tube used in column chromatography; a
        mixture is poured in the top and washed through a
        stationary substance where components of the mixture are
        adsorbed selectively to form colored bands [syn: {chromatography
        column}]
     3: a linear array of numbers one above another
     4: anything tall and thin approximating the shape of a column
        or tower; "the test tube held a column of white powder";
        "a tower of dust rose above the horizon"; "a thin pillar
        of smoke betrayed their campsite" [syn: {tower}, {pillar}]
     5: an article giving opinions or perspectives [syn: {editorial},
         {newspaper column}]
     6: a vertical structure standing alone and not supporting
        anything (as a monument or a column of air) [syn: {pillar}]
     7: (architeture) a tall cylindrical vertical upright and used
        to support a structure [syn: {pillar}]