Columba

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A constellation in the Southern Hemisphere near Caelum and Puppis. Also called Dove.
2. Columba, Saint 521-597. Irish missionary who established a monastery on the island of Iona and subsequently Christianized northern Scotland.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A genus of pigeons, formerly coextensive with the order Columbæ, now restricted to species typical of the family Columbidæ and subfamily Columbinæ, such as the domestic pigeon or rock-dove (C. livia), the stock-dove (C. ænas), the ring-dove (C. palumbus), and several others of both hemispheres. The bill is comparatively short and stout; the wings are pointed; the tail is much shorter than the wings, and square or little rounded; the tarsi are shorter than the middle toe, and are scutellate in front and feathered above; and there are 10 remiges or wing-feathers, and 12 rectrices or tail-feathers. See cut under rock-dove.
2. n. In conchology, a genus of bivalve mollusks.
3. n. [l. c] [ML.] In the medieval church, the name given to the vessel in which the sacrament was kept, when, as was often the case, it was made in the shape of a dove. It was of precious metal, and stood on a circular platform or basin, had a sort of corona above it, and was suspended by a chain from the roof, before the high altar. The opening was in the back.
4. n. Same as columbo.

Wiktionary

1. n. A taxonomic genus within the family Columbidae — doves and pigeons.
2. n. St. Columba of Iona (Old Irish Columb Cille, meaning "Dove of the church"); one of the Gaelic missionary monks who reintroduced Christianity to Scotland during the Dark Ages.
3. n. Any of three other Christian saints who bore the name Columba.
4. n. astronomy A small winter constellation of the northern sky, said to resemble a dove. It was introduced by Augustin Royer in 1679, as a split from the constellation Canis Major.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Med.) See calumba.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. type genus of the Columbidae: typical pigeons
2. n. a constellation in the southern hemisphere near Puppis and Caelum