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Columnar structure

Structure \Struc"ture\, n. [L. structura, from struere, structum, to arrange, build, construct; perhaps akin to E. strew: cf. F. structure. Cf. Construe, Destroy, Instrument, Obstruct.]

  1. The act of building; the practice of erecting buildings; construction. [R.]

    His son builds on, and never is content Till the last farthing is in structure spent.
    --J. Dryden, Jr.

  2. Manner of building; form; make; construction.

    Want of insight into the structure and constitution of the terraqueous globe.
    --Woodward.

  3. Arrangement of parts, of organs, or of constituent particles, in a substance or body; as, the structure of a rock or a mineral; the structure of a sentence.

    It [basalt] has often a prismatic structure.
    --Dana.

  4. (Biol.) Manner of organization; the arrangement of the different tissues or parts of animal and vegetable organisms; as, organic structure, or the structure of animals and plants; cellular structure.

  5. That which is built; a building; esp., a building of some size or magnificence; an edifice.

    There stands a structure of majestic frame.
    --Pope.

    Columnar structure. See under Columnar.

Columnar structure

Columnar \Co*lum"nar\, a. [L. columnaris, fr. columna.] Formed in columns; having the form of a column or columns; like the shaft of a column.

Columnar epithelium (Anat.), epithelium in which the cells are prismatic in form, and set upright on the surface they cover.

Columnar structure (Geol.), a structure consisting of more or less regular columns, usually six-sided, but sometimes with eight or more sides. The columns are often fractured transversely, with a cup joint, showing a concave surface above. This structure is characteristic of certain igneous rocks, as basalt, and is due to contraction in cooling.

Usage examples of "columnar structure".

David, secured at the crotch and upward along Michelangelo's columnar structure over the strong chest, swayed only along the distance of the slip knots.

There was the debris, of course, but surrounding it was evidence of the interior columnar structure that on the surface broke into the segments that later became the Singing Stones.