Word of the Day: Colony

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- Colony -

pronounced [kol-uh-nee]

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

late 14c., "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 1540s.

Synonyms
6. body, band

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/colony

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