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Word Study
colony
CIDE DICTIONARY
colony, n. [L. colonia, fr. colonus farmer, fr. colere to cultivate, dwell: cf. F. colonie. Cf. Culture.].
- A company of people transplanted from their mother country to a remote province or country, and remaining subject to the jurisdiction of the parent state; as, the British colonies in America. [1913 Webster]"The first settlers of New England were the best of Englishmen, well educated, devout Christians, and zealous lovers of liberty. There was never a colony formed of better materials." [1913 Webster]
- The district or country colonized; a settlement. [1913 Webster]
- a territory subject to the ruling governmental authority of another country and not a part of the ruling country. [PJC]
- A company of persons from the same country sojourning in a foreign city or land; as, the American colony in Paris. [1913 Webster]
- A number of animals or plants living or growing together, beyond their usual range. [1913 Webster]
- A cell family or group of common origin, mostly of unicellular organisms, esp. among the lower algæ. They may adhere in chains or groups, or be held together by a gelatinous envelope. [PJC]
- A cluster or aggregation of zooids of any compound animal, as in the corals, hydroids, certain tunicates, etc. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
- A community of social insects, as ants, bees, etc. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
- a group of microorganisms originating as the descendents of one individual cell, growing on a gelled growth medium, as of gelatin or agar; especially, such a group that has grown to a sufficient number to be visible to the naked eye. [PJC]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
colony, n. (pl. -ies)
1 a a group of settlers in a new country (whether or not already inhabited) fully or partly subject to the mother country. b the settlement or its territory.
2 a people of one nationality or race or occupation in a city, esp. if living more or less in isolation or in a special quarter. b a separate or segregated group (nudist colony).
3 Biol. a collection of animals, plants, etc., connected, in contact, or living close together.
1 a a group of settlers in a new country (whether or not already inhabited) fully or partly subject to the mother country. b the settlement or its territory.
2 a people of one nationality or race or occupation in a city, esp. if living more or less in isolation or in a special quarter. b a separate or segregated group (nudist colony).
3 Biol. a collection of animals, plants, etc., connected, in contact, or living close together.
Etymology
ME f. L colonia f. colonus farmer f. colere cultivate
THESAURUS
colony
adverse possession, ally, alodium, archduchy, archdukedom, army, ashram, body, body politic, buffer state, bunch, burgage, captive nation, caste, chieftaincy, chieftainry, city-state, claim, clan, class, commonweal, commonwealth, commune, community, country, county, de facto, de jure, dependency, derivative title, domain, dominion, drift, drive, drove, duchy, dukedom, earldom, economic class, empery, empire, endogamous group, extended family, family, fee fief, fee position, fee simple, fee simple absolute, fee simple conditional, fee simple defeasible, fee simple determinable, fee tail, feodum, feud, fiefdom, flock, frankalmoign, free city, free socage, freehold, gam, gang, gavelkind, gens, grand duchy, having title to, herd, hold, holding, host, kennel, kingdom, kinship group, knight service, land, lay fee, lease, leasehold, legal claim, legal possession, litter, mandant, mandate, mandated territory, mandatee, mandatory, moiety, nation, nationality, nuclear family, occupancy, occupation, order, original title, owning, pack, phratria, phratry, phyle, pod, polis, polity, possessing, possession, power, preoccupancy, preoccupation, prepossession, prescription, pride, principality, principate, property, property rights, proprietary rights, protectorate, province, puppet government, puppet regime, realm, republic, satellite, school, seisin, seneschalty, settlement, shoal, skulk, sloth, socage, social class, society, sovereign nation, squatting, state, subcaste, sublease, sultanate, superpower, tenancy, tenantry, tenure, tenure in chivalry, territory, title, toparchia, toparchy, totem, trip, troop, underlease, undertenancy, usucapion, villein socage, villeinhold, villenageROGET THESAURUS
colony
Location
N location, localization, lodgment, deposition, reposition, stowage, package, collocation, packing, lading, establishment, settlement, installation, fixation, insertion, habitat, environment, surroundings (situation), circumjacence, anchorage, mooring, encampment, plantation, colony, settlement, cantonment, colonization, domestication, situation, habitation, cohabitation, a local habitation and a name, endenization, naturalization, placed, situate, posited, ensconced, imbedded, embosomed, rooted, domesticated, vested in, unremoved, moored, at anchor.Inhabitant
N inhabitant, resident, residentiary, dweller, indweller, addressee, occupier, occupant, householder, lodger, inmate, tenant, incumbent, sojourner, locum tenens, commorant, settler, squatter, backwoodsman, colonist, islander, denizen, citizen, burgher, oppidan, cockney, cit, townsman, burgess, villager, cottager, cottier, cotter, compatriot, backsettler, boarder, hotel keeper, innkeeper, habitant, paying guest, planter, native, indigene, aborigines, autochthones, Englishman, John Bull, newcomer, aboriginal, American, Caledonian, Cambrian, Canadian, Canuck, downeaster, Scot, Scotchman, Hibernian, Irishman, Welshman, Uncle Sam, Yankee, Brother Jonathan, garrison, crew, population, people, colony, settlement, household, mir, indigenous, native, natal, autochthonal, autochthonous, British, English, American, Canadian, Irish, Scotch, Scottish, Welsh, domestic, domiciliated, domiciled, naturalized, vernacular, domesticated, domiciliary, in the occupation of, garrisoned by, occupied by.Also see definition of "colony" in Bible Study Dictionaries
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