Column vs. Plinth

Columnnoun

(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.

Plinthnoun

A block or slab upon which a column, pedestal, statue or other structure is based.

Columnnoun

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

Plinthnoun

The bottom course of stones or bricks supporting a wall.

Columnnoun

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

Plinthnoun

A base or pedestal beneath a cabinet.

Columnnoun

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

‘It was too hard to read the text across the whole page, so I split it into two columns.’;

Plinthnoun

In classical architecture, a vertically faced member immediately below the circular base of a column; also, the lowest member of a pedestal; hence, in general, the lowest member of a base; a sub-base; a block upon which the moldings of an architrave or trim are stopped at the bottom. See Illust. of Column.

Columnnoun

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

‘Each column inch costs $300 a week; this ad is four columns by three inches, so will run $3600 a week.’;

Plinthnoun

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

Columnnoun

(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.

‘His initial foray into print media was as the author of a weekly column in his elementary-school newspaper.’;

Columnnoun

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

Columnnoun

(botany) The gynostemium

Columnnoun

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

Columnnoun

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.

Columnnoun

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.

Columnnoun

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

Columnnoun

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.

Columnnoun

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.

Columnnoun

A perpendicular line of figures.

Columnnoun

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

Columnnoun

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.

Columnnoun

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

Columnnoun

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

Columnnoun

a linear array of numbers one above another

Columnnoun

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

‘the test tube held a column of white powder’; ‘a tower of dust rose above the horizon’; ‘a thin pillar of smoke betrayed their campsite’;

Columnnoun

an article giving opinions or perspectives

Columnnoun

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

Columnnoun

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

Column

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.