colony

colony [käl′ə nē]

n.

pl. colonies [ME colonie < L colonia < colonus, farmer < colere, to cultivate: see CULT]

1.

a) a group of people who settle in a distant land but remain under the political jurisdiction of their native land

b) the region thus settled

2. a territory distant from the state having jurisdiction or control over it

3. [C-] [pl.] the thirteen British colonies in North America that won their independence in the Revolutionary War and became the U.S.: they were Va., N.Y., Mass., Conn., R.I., N.H., Md., N.J., N.C., S.C., Pa., Del., and Ga.

4.

a) a community of people of the same nationality or pursuits concentrated in a particular district or place [the Hungarian colony of Cleveland, an artists' colony]

b) such a district or place

5. Bacteriology a group of cells that are derived from a single initial cell, growing separately on a solid culture medium

6. Biol. a group of similar plants or animals living or growing together

7. Zool. a compound organism consisting of several to many incompletely separated individuals, as in corals and hydroids