n.
(pl. colonies)
- a country or area under the political control of another country and occupied by settlers from that country.
▸
(the colonies)
all the foreign places formerly under British political control.
▸
(the colonies)
the thirteen areas on the east coast of North America that gained independence and founded the United States of America.
- a group of people of one nationality or race living in a foreign place.
▸a place where a group of people with the same occupation or interest live together:
a nudist colony.
- Biology a community of animals or plants of one kind living close together or forming a physically connected structure.
Etymology
ME: from L. colonia ‘settlement, farm’, from colonus ‘settler, farmer’, from colere ‘cultivate’.