\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.