column

column
columned /kol"euhmd/, columnated /kol"euhm nay'tid/, adj.
/kol"euhm/, n.
1. Archit.
a. a rigid, relatively slender, upright support, composed of relatively few pieces.
b. a decorative pillar, most often composed of stone and typically having a cylindrical or polygonal shaft with a capital and usually a base.
2. any columnlike object, mass, or formation: a column of smoke.
3. a vertical row or list: Add this column of figures.
4. a vertical arrangement on a page of horizontal lines of type, usually typographically justified: There are three columns on this page.
5. a regular feature or series of articles in a newspaper, magazine, or the like, usually having a readily identifiable heading and the byline of the writer or editor, that reports or comments upon a particular field of interest, as politics, theater, or etiquette, or which may contain letters from readers, answers to readers' queries, etc.
6. a long, narrow formation of troops in which there are more members in line in the direction of movement than at right angles to the direction (distinguished from line).
7. a formation of ships in single file.
8. Bot. a columnlike structure in an orchid flower, composed of the united stamens and style.
[1400-50; late ME columne < L columna, equiv. to colum(e)n peak + -a fem. ending; akin to EXCEL; r. late ME colompne < AF < L, as above]
Syn. 1. COLUMN, PILLAR refer to upright supports in architectural structures. PILLAR is the general word: the pillars supporting the roof. A COLUMN is a particular kind of pillar, esp. one with an identifiable shaft, base, and capital: columns of the Corinthian order.

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In architecture, a vertical element, usually a slender shaft, that provides structural support by carrying axial loads in compression; columns are also subject to buckling.

Columns may be exposed or hidden in walls; constructed of precast concrete, masonry, stone, or wood or of steel wide-flange, pipe, or tubular sections; they may be plain, fluted, or sculpted, with or without a capital and base. Columns may also be nonstructural, used for decorative or monumental purposes. See also intercolumniation, order.

Doric columns on the Greek temple at Segesta, Sicily, c. 424–416 BC

SCALA/Art Resource, NY

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 in architecture, a vertical element, usually a rounded shaft with a capital and base, which in most cases serves as a support. A column may also be nonstructural, used for a decorative purpose or as a freestanding monument.

      In the field of architectural design a column is used for decoration as well as support. Classical Greek and Roman architecture made use of five major styles of column (see order), carved from single blocks or created from stacks of massive stone blocks. In ancient Egypt and the Near East, columns, usually large and circular, were used with great effect to decorate and support massive structures, especially in the absence of arches. In Far Eastern architecture, columns tend to be simple in shape but richly decorated. Craftsmen of the Gothic and Romanesque era used the bases and capitals of supporting stone columns as spaces for intricate carving. Baroque designs often featured sinuously carved columns of marble. Modern (modern art) columns tend to be made of iron, steel, or concrete and are simply designed.

      Columns may be rectangular, circular, or polygonal in shape; they may taper toward the top, or be of uniform diameter. An engaged, attached, or embedded column is one that is built into a wall and protrudes only partially from it; this type of column came to serve a decorative rather than structural purpose in the Roman pilaster. A cluster or compound column is a group of columns connected with each other to form a single unit. A rostral column is a pillar decorated with the prow of a ship, or rostrum, to serve as a naval monument.

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Universalium. 2010.

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