colony Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a body of people who settle far from home but maintain ties with their homeland; inhabitants remain nationals of their home state but are not literally under the home state's system of government
    settlement.
    • the American colony in Paris
  2. noun a group of organisms of the same type living or growing together
  3. noun one of the 13 British colonies that formed the original states of the United States
  4. noun a place where a group of people with the same interest or occupation are concentrated
    • a nudist colony
    • an artists' colony
  5. noun a geographical area politically controlled by a distant country
    dependency.
  6. noun (microbiology) a group of organisms grown from a single parent cell

WordNet

Col"o*ny noun
Etymology
L. colonia, fr. colonus farmer, fr. colere to cultivate, dwell: cf. F. colonie. Cf. Culture.
Wordforms
plural Colonies
Definitions
  1. 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.
    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. Ames.
  2. The district or country colonized; a settlement.
  3. A company of persons from the same country sojourning in a foreign city or land; as, the American colony in Paris.
  4. (Nat. Hist.) A number of animals or plants living or growing together, beyond their usual range.

Webster 1913