COLUMN

Dictionary of Science, Literature and Art · 1842 · p. 10

(Lat. column a.) In Architecture, a member of an order whose section through the axis is usually a frustum of an elongated parabola. It is circular on every height of its plan, and consists of a base, shaft or body, and a capital. It differs from a pilaster, which is square on the plan. The use of the column is to support the entablature. See Order. [s. 264]