Column vs. Pedestal

A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member.

A pedestal (from French piédestal, Italian piedistallo 'foot of a stall') or plinth is the support of a statue or a vase, and of a column in architecture. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles.

A vertical structure usually consisting of a base, a cylindrical shaft, and a capital, used as a support or standing alone as a monument.

An architectural support or base, as for a column or statue.

Any slender vertical support, as of steel or reinforced concrete.

A support or foundation.

Something resembling an architectural column in form or function

A position of high regard or adoration.

One of two or more vertical sections of text lying side by side in a document and separated by a rule or a blank space.

To place on or provide with a pedestal.

An arrangement of numbers in a single vertical line.

(architecture) The base or foot of a column, statue, vase, lamp.

A feature article that appears regularly in a publication, such as a newspaper.

(figuratively) A place of reverence or honor.

A formation, as of troops or vehicles, in which all elements follow one behind the other.

(rail transport) A casting secured to the frame of a truck of a railcar and forming a jaw for holding a journal box.

(Botany)A columnlike structure, especially one formed by the union of a stamen and the style in an orchid flower, or one formed by the united staminal filaments in flowers such as those of the hibiscus or mallow.

(machining) A pillow block; a low housing.

(Anatomy)Any of various tubular or pillarlike supporting structures in the body, each generally having a single tissue origin and function

(bridge building) An iron socket, or support, for the foot of a brace at the end of a truss where it rests on a pier.

(architecture) A solid upright structure designed usually to support a larger structure above it, such as a roof or horizontal beam, but sometimes for decoration.

(steam heating) a pedestal coil, group of connected straight pipes arranged side by side and one above another, used in a radiator.

A vertical line of entries in a table, usually read from top to bottom.

(telecommunications) A ground-level housing for a passive connection point for underground cables.

A body of troops or army vehicles, usually strung out along a road.

(electronics) The measured value when no input signal is given.

A body of text meant to be read line by line, especially in printed material that has multiple adjacent such on a single page.

(aviation) The central part of the cockpit, between the pilots, where various controls are located.

A unit of width, especially of advertisements, in a periodical, equivalent to the width of a usual column of text.

The tough protuberant pad covering a dromedary's sternum, which, when the camel lies down, causes the abdomen to be slightly above the hot ground.

(by extension) A recurring feature in a periodical, especially an opinion piece, especially by a single author or small rotating group of authors, or on a single theme.

To set or support on (or as if on) a pedestal.

Something having similar vertical form or structure to the things mentioned above, such as a spinal column.

The base or foot of a column, statue, vase, lamp, or the like; the part on which an upright work stands. It consists of three parts, the base, the die or dado, and the cornice or surbase molding. See Illust. of Column.

(botany) The gynostemium

A short free-standing column or column-like object designed to support a work of art or other object; a column serving the same function as the base of a statue. It may be made of wood, marble, or other suitable material.

(chemistry) An object used to separate the different components of a liquid or to purify chemical compounds.

A part of a desk which contains a frame and drawers, stands on the floor, and provides support for the desk surface. There may be zero, one, or two such pedestals in a desk.

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.

A casting secured to the frame of a truck and forming a jaw for holding a journal box.

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 Vendôme; the spinal column.

a support or foundation;

A body of troops formed in ranks, one behind the other; - contradistinguished from line. Compare Ploy, and Deploy.

a position of great esteem (and supposed superiority);

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.

an architectural support or base (as for a column or statue)

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.

A perpendicular line of figures.

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

one of a series of articles written in a periodical, usually under the same title and at regular intervals; it may be written and signed by one or more authors, or may appear pseudonymously or anonymously, as an editorial column.

a line of (usually military) units following one after another

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

a linear array of numbers one above another

anything tall and thin approximating the shape of a column or tower;

an article giving opinions or perspectives

a vertical structure standing alone and not supporting anything (as a monument or a column of air)

(architeture) a tall cylindrical vertical upright and used to support a structure