The noun column has 7 senses (first 7 from tagged texts)
1. (18) column -- (a line of (usually military) units following one after another)
2. (18) column, chromatography column -- (a vertical glass tube used in column chromatography; a mixture is poured in the top and washed through a stationary substance where components of the mixture are adsorbed selectively to form colored bands)
3. (8) column -- (a linear array of numbers one above another)
4. (6) column, tower, pillar -- (anything tall and relatively thin that approximates the shape of a column or tower; "the test tube held a column of white powder"; "a tower of dust rose above the horizon"; "a thin pillar of smoke betrayed their campsite")