1. [n]  a group of animals of the same type living together
2. [n]  (microbiology) a group of organisms grown from a single parent cell
3. [n]  a body of people who settle far from home but maintain ties with their homeland; inhabitants remain nationals of their home state but are not literally under the home state's system of government
4. [n]  one of the 13 British colonies that formed the original states of the United States

Colony
Colony

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1. \Col"o*ny\, n.; pl. {Colonies}. [L. colonia, fr. colonus
   farmer, fr. colere to cultivate, dwell: cf. F. colonie. Cf.
   {Culture}.]
   1. A company of people transplanted from their mother country
      to a remote province or country, and remaining subject to
      the jurisdiction of the parent state; as, the British
      colonies in America.
            The first settlers of New England were the best of
            Englishmen, well educated, devout Christians, and
            zealous lovers of liberty. There was never a colony
            formed of better materials.           --Ames.
   2. The district or country colonized; a settlement.
   3. A company of persons from the same country sojourning in a
      foreign city or land; as, the American colony in Paris.
   4. (Nat. Hist.) A number of animals or plants living or
      growing together, beyond their usual range.
   

2. \Col"o*ny\, n.
   1. (Bot.) A cell family or group of common origin, mostly of
      unicellular organisms, esp. among the lower alg[ae]. They
      may adhere in chains or groups, or be held together by a
      gelatinous envelope.
   2. (Zo["o]l.) A cluster or aggregation of zooids of any
      compound animal, as in the corals, hydroids, certain
      tunicates, etc.
   3. (Zo["o]l.) A community of social insects, as ants, bees,
      etc.
   

1. A group of identical cells (clones) derived from a single parent cell.
2. A clone of bacterial cells on a solid medium that is visible to the naked eye.

The city of Philippi was a Roman colony (Acts 16:12), i.e., a military settlement of Roman soldiers and citizens, planted there to keep in subjection a newly-conquered district. A colony was Rome in miniature, under Roman municipal law, but governed by military officers (praetors and lictors), not by proconsuls. It had an independent internal government, the jus Italicum; i.e., the privileges of Italian citizens.