col ‧ umn S3 W2 /ˈkɒləm $ ˈkɑː-/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Date: 1400-1500 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: colomne , from Latin columna , from columen 'top' ]
1 . a tall solid upright stone post used to support a building or as a decoration
2 . a line of numbers or words written under each other that goes down a page ⇨ row
in a column
Add up the numbers in each column.
column of
a column of figures
3 . an article on a particular subject or by a particular writer that appears regularly in a newspaper or magazine:
He writes a weekly column for ‘The Times’.
music/science/gardening etc column
4 . one of two or more areas of print that go down the page of a newspaper or book and that are separated from each other by a narrow space:
Turn to page 5, column 2.
‘The Sun’ devoted ten column inches to the event (=their article filled a column ten inches long) .
5 . something that has a tall thin shape
column of
a column of smoke
6 . a long moving line of people or things
column of
a column of marching men
⇨ ↑ fifth column , ↑ gossip column , ↑ personal column , ↑ spinal column
• • •
COLLOCATIONS (for Meaning 3)
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + column
▪ a newspaper column
He’s the writer of a weekly newspaper column.
▪ a weekly/daily/monthly column
Her daily column covered a wide range of topics.
▪ a regular column
His views were well-known from his regular column in The Spectator magazine.
▪ a gossip column (=one about the private lives of famous people)
She was upset by an item in the Washington Times gossip column.
▪ an editorial column (=that expresses the opinion of a newspaper editor)
the Financial Times editorial column
▪ a financial column
He wrote a financial column for the evening newspaper.
▪ a correspondence/letters column (=that prints some of the letters a newspaper receives)
Thousands of letters poured in to the correspondence column.
▪ an obituary column (=about the life of someone who has just died)
I spotted Stephenson's name in the obituary column.
▪ the personal column British English (=in which people can have personal messages printed)
I put a small advertisement in the personal column of the paper.
▪ an agony column British English (=that gives advice to readers about personal problems)
Romantic relationships are much discussed in all the agony columns.
▪ a lonely hearts column British English (=with advertisements for a new lover or friend)
Some men place advertisements in the lonely hearts columns.
■ verbs
▪ write a column
He writes a column on gardening for the Daily News.
▪ have a column (=write one)
Lynch had a weekly column in a Sydney newspaper.
■ column + NOUN
▪ column inches (=space in a newspaper or magazine)
Many column inches have recently been devoted to the troubled pop star.