1. 1. A group of emigrants or their descendants who settle in a distant territory but remain subject to or closely associated with the parent country.
   2. A territory thus settled.
2. A region politically controlled by a distant country; a dependency.
3. 1. A group of people with the same interests or ethnic origin concentrated in a particular area: the American colony in Paris.
   2. The area occupied by such a group.
4. Colonies The British colonies that became the original 13 states of the United States.
5. A group of people who have been institutionalized in a relatively remote area: an island penal colony.
6. Ecology. A group of the same kind of animals, plants, or one-celled organisms living or growing together.
7. Microbiology. A visible growth of microorganisms, usually in a solid or semisolid nutrient medium.

[Middle English colonie, from Latin colōnia, from colōnus, settler, from colere, to cultivate.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.