column

noun

• 1an upright pillar, typically cylindrical and made of stone or concrete, supporting an entablature, arch, or other structure or standing alone as a monument.
• a vertical, roughly cylindrical thing:a great column of smoke
• an upright shaft forming part of a machine and typically used for controlling it:a Spitfire control column

• 2a vertical division of a page or text.
• a vertical arrangement of figures or other information.
• a section of a newspaper or magazine regularly devoted to a particular subject or written by a particular person.

• 3one or more lines of people or vehicles moving in the same direction:a column of tanks moved northwest we walked in a column
• Military a narrow-fronted deep formation of troops in successive lines.
• a military force or convoy of ships.