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Colony

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col⋅o⋅ny

  [kol-uh-nee]
Use Colony in a Sentence
–noun, plural -nies.
1. a group of people who leave their native country to form in a new land a settlement subject to, or connected with, the parent nation.
2. the country or district settled or colonized: Many Western nations are former European colonies.
3. any people or territory separated from but subject to a ruling power.
4. the Colonies, those British colonies that formed the original 13 states of the United States: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
5. a number of people coming from the same country, or speaking the same language, residing in a foreign country or city, or a particular section of it; enclave: the Polish colony in Israel; the American colony in Paris.
6. any group of individuals having similar interests, occupations, etc., usually living in a particular locality; community: a colony of artists.
7. the district, quarter, or dwellings inhabited by any such number or group: The Greek island is now an artists' colony.
8. an aggregation of bacteria growing together as the descendants of a single cell.
9. Ecology. a group of organisms of the same kind living or growing in close association.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME colonie (< MF) < L colōnia, equiv. to colōn(us) colonus + -ia -y 3

Synonyms:
6. body, band.
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Col⋅o⋅ny

  [kol-uh-nee]
–noun
The, a city in NE Texas. 11,586.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Colony
col·o·ny   (kŏl'ə-nē)   
n.   pl. col·o·nies

    1. A group of emigrants or their descendants who settle in a distant territory but remain subject to or closely associated with the parent country.

    2. A territory thus settled.

    3. A group of people with the same interests or ethnic origin concentrated in a particular area: the American colony in Paris.

    4. The area occupied by such a group.

  2. A region politically controlled by a distant country; a dependency.

    1. A group of people with the same interests or ethnic origin concentrated in a particular area: the American colony in Paris.

    2. The area occupied by such a group.

  4. Colonies The British colonies that became the original 13 states of the United States.

  5. A group of people who have been institutionalized in a relatively remote area: an island penal colony.

  6. Ecology A group of the same kind of animals, plants, or one-celled organisms living or growing together.

  7. Microbiology A visible growth of microorganisms, usually in a solid or semisolid nutrient medium.


[Middle English colonie, from Latin colōnia, from colōnus, settler, from colere, to cultivate; see kwel-1 in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

colony 
c.1384, "ancient Roman settlement outside Italy," from L. colonia "settled land, farm, landed estate," from colonus "husbandman, tenant farmer, settler in new land," from colere "to inhabit, cultivate, frequent, practice, tend, guard, respect," from PIE base *kwel- "move around" (source of L. -cola "inhabitant;" see cycle). Also used by the Romans to translate Gk. apoikia "people from home." Modern application dates from 1548. Colonize is from 1622; colonial first recorded 1776, coined by British statesman Edmund Burke (1729-97). Colonialism first attested 1886.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: col·o·ny
Pronunciation: 'käl-&-nE
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural -nies
: a circumscribed massof microorganisms usually growing in or on a solid medium
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

colony col·o·ny (kŏl'ə-nē)
n.
A discrete group of organisms, such as a group of cells growing on a solid nutrient surface.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Bible Dictionary

Colony

The city of Philippi was a Roman colony (Acts 16:12), i.e., a military settlement of Roman soldiers and citizens, planted there to keep in subjection a newly-conquered district. A colony was Rome in miniature, under Roman municipal law, but governed by military officers (praetors and lictors), not by proconsuls. It had an independent internal government, the jus Italicum; i.e., the privileges of Italian citizens.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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