column

column
col‧umn S3 W2 /ˈkɒləm $ ˈkɑː-/ noun [countable]
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.