noun pl. colonies -·nies

1. 1. a group of people who settle in a distant land but remain under the political jurisdiction of their native land
   2. the region thus settled
2. a territory distant from the state having jurisdiction or control over it
3. the thirteen British colonies in North America that won their independence in the Revolutionary War and became the U.S.: they were Va., N.Y., Mass., Conn., R.I., N.H., Md., N.J., N.C., S.C., Pa., Del., and Ga.
4. 1. a community of people of the same nationality or pursuits concentrated in a particular district or place the Hungarian colony of Cleveland, an artists' colony
   2. such a district or place
5. Bacteriology a group of cells that are derived from a single initial cell, growing separately on a solid culture medium
6. Biol. a group of similar plants or animals living or growing together
7. Zool. a compound organism consisting of several to many incompletely separated individuals, as in corals and hydroids

Etymology: ME colonie < L colonia < colonus, farmer < colere, to cultivate: see cult