column
Column
angle column
baluster column
banded column
What does it mean when you dream about a column?
Columns symbolize strength and work, as they usually hold something up. They also represent organization (e.g., columns of numbers to classify groups of entries in accounting, columns of soldiers). A dream about columns may indicate the dreamer is trying to hold up under burdens or to support others.
column
[′käl·əm]Column
A structural member that carries its load in compression along its length. Most frequently, as in a building, the column is in a vertical position transmitting gravity loads from its top down to its base. Columns are present in other structures as well, such as in bridges, towers, cranes, airplanes, machinery, and furniture. Other terms used by both engineers and lay persons to identify a column are pillar, post, and strut. Columns of timber, stone, and masonry have been constructed since the dawn of civilization; modern materials also include steel, aluminum, concrete, plastic, and composite material. See Composite material, Loads, transverse, Structural materials, Structural steel
Modern steel columns are made by rolling, extruding, or forming hot steel into predetermined cross-sectional shapes in the manufacturing facility. Reinforced concrete columns are fabricated either in their final locations (cast-in-place concrete) or in a precast plant (precast concrete) with steel reinforcing rods embedded in the concrete. Masonry columns are usually built in their final locations; they are made of brick or concrete masonry blocks; sometimes steel reinforcing rods are embedded within the masonry. See Brick, Concrete, Masonry, Precast concrete, Reinforced concrete
According to their behavior under load, columns are classified as short, slender, or intermediate. A short column is one whose length is relatively short in comparison to its cross-sectional dimensions and, when loaded to its extreme, fails by reaching the compressive strength of its material. This is called failure in axial compression. A slender column is one whose length is large in comparison to its cross-sectional dimensions and, when loaded to its extreme, fails by buckling (abruptly bending) out of its straight-line shape and suddenly collapsing before reaching the compressive strength of its material. This is called a condition of instability. An intermediate column falls between the classifications of short and slender. When loaded to its extreme, the intermediate column falls by a combination of compression and instability.
column
column
(database)column
(storage)column
A vertical set of data or components. Contrast with row. |
Column
in architecture, a vertical support, generally with a circular cross section; an essential element of buildings and other supporting structures. The principal function of a column is to support a vertical load.
The column originated in the architecture of many peoples as an element of the most fundamental type of post-and-lintel construction. The prototypes of the column, wooden posts and stone pillars, bore the weight of the roof beams. The column became an element of the traditional architectural systems, which are commonly known as orders. In classical architectural orders, the main part of the column, the shaft, is fluted and tapered gradually toward the top, sometimes becoming curvilinear or “swollen” (entasis). The shaft often rests on either a plain or ornate base and is crowned with a capital. The column’s proportions, articulation, and modeling, as well as the relationship of its height and diameter with the intercolumniation and with the dimensions of the structure, determine its artistic expressiveness, significance, and impact.
Columns were first used as elements of both the facades and interiors of buildings in ancient Oriental, Greek, and Roman architecture. They were also used to convey a particular sense of scale and to provide rhythmic variation in the surface of a wall. In the architecture of ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome the columns were merged with the wall to a certain extent and lost their independent tectonic importance, resulting in the development of three-quarter columns, half columns, pilasters, and the engaged columns that were prevalent in ancient Rome. Originally serving as supports for roof beams, columns were later used as supports for arches and vaults. Some columns stand isolated as monuments and are usually crowned with sculpture. In frame buildings the column is one of the elements of the frame that bears the load from the elements attached to it or resting on it, such as beams, spandrels, and girders. Columns may be made of stone (bricks, rocks, or concrete blocks), reinforced concrete, metal, or wood. In contemporary usage the word “column” often incorrectly designates supports with cross sections of various shapes (square, rectangular, round, I-shaped, bifurcate, or cruciform).
REFERENCE
Vseobshchaia istoriia arkhitektury, vols. 1–2. Moscow, 1970–73.V. F. MARKUZON
Column
a formation in which servicemen are placed one behind the other and subunits (vehicles) one behind another.
Columns may consist of files of one, two, three, or more men; they are used to deploy subunits and units in march or line formation. If the column is on the move, the serviceman (or subunit) at the head of the column is called the guide and the one at the rear, the file closer. The distance between the head and the tail of the column is called its depth. In the navy a column is a fleet formation in several lines, each of which is also called a column.
Until the middle of the 19th century, when armies used dense battle formations in combat, the column was a form of troop combat formation. For instance, Napoleon I, A. V. Suvorov, and other generals used company and battalion columns. In the second half of the 19th century the increase in the maximum rate of fire of weapons and in the range and power of aimed fire led to great losses and made the column useless in combat.