Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A pass between two mountain peaks or a gap in a ridge.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A name given by Abercrom by in 1887 to the region on a weather-map between two anticyclones, where the isobars show a connecting neck or narrow region of lower pressure analogous to the col that affords a passage from one mountain peak to its neighbor: not to be confounded with a trough or an area of low pressure.
  • noun A narrow pass between two mountain peaks: a term used in English by some writers on alpine geology and mountaineering.
  • noun An abbreviation of Colonel as a title, and
  • noun of Colossians.
  • noun [lowercase] An apothecaries' abbreviation of coliander, an obsolete form of coriander.
  • noun The assimilated form of com-, con-, before l. See com-, con-.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A short ridge connecting two higher elevations or mountains; the pass over such a ridge.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A dip between mountain peaks in a summit-line.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a pass between mountain peaks

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Old French, neck, from Latin collum; see kwel- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French col, from Latin collum ("neck").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word col.

Examples

  • I remem­ber being up late one night as I was pack­ing up my dorm room after my junior year in col­lege, when the infomer­cial for Nads came on the TV.

    And If You Call Now … « Snarkmarket 2005

  • The last time you redesigned your site, I was in col­lege.

    An Open Letter to NYTimes.com « Snarkmarket 2005

  • I know a hap­pily mar­ried, very domes­tic, cou­ple of whom the wife first thought per­haps the hus­band liked her when he held her hair back while she was throw­ing up in col­lege.

    The Poetry of LiveJournal « Snarkmarket 2005

  • (He claims it was mis­in­ter­preted by the evil Clin­ton admin­is­tra­tion, and was only sup­posed to apply to stu­dents so con­victed while in col­lege.

    Lance Mannion: 2010

  • (He claims it was mis­in­ter­preted by the evil Clin­ton admin­is­tra­tion, and was only sup­posed to apply to stu­dents so con­victed while in col­lege.

    Random Thought Number One on The Hoosier Hypocrite 2010

  • Apparantly the only bath the col is taking is the one he’s getting here at think progress!

    Think Progress » GOP Rep. Paul Broun Admits To Illegally Sending Back An Incomplete Census 2010

  • Pope John Paul II was widely beloved, and I think you’d find many who’d describe him as the epit­ome of wise moral lead­er­ship, but then you can’t really over­look that thin col­lec­tive that con­sid­ers him one of the 20th Century’s worst moral tyrants, canyou?

    On Leadership « Snarkmarket 2005

  • When I was in col­lege, I used to love these two record­ings by a Uni­ver­sity of Penn­syl­va­nia a cap­pella group — one was a cover of “Baby” by Nil Lara, the other a cover of Ste­vie Wonder’s ver­sion of the Bea­t­les’ “We Can Work It Out.”

    Rock Star « Snarkmarket 2005

  • When I was a sopho­more away in col­lege, my par­ents sud­denly moved away from the house I’d lived in since 4th grade.

    The Places I Have Come to Fear the Most « Snarkmarket 2005

  • It was only a few minutes walk from there to the col, which is the border between France and Switzerland.

    Day 10 Trient to Tre-le-Champ 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • From American Heritage Dictionary: "A pass between two mountain peaks or a gap in a ridge."

    Cf. saddle point.

    September 28, 2009