column

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a little from column A, a little from column B

Having been formed from two distinct factors, elements, or reasons. She asked me if I drew more from real life or from my imagination when writing; in truth, it's a little from column A and a little from column B.
See also: column, little

dodge the column

To avoid doing some job or task. Primarily heard in UK. Oh, she's not really sick—she's just trying to dodge the column and leave me with all her work!
See also: column, dodge

fifth column

A clandestine group of people who work subversively within a group, organization, or country in order to betray it to an allied outside force. In the US during the Cold War, there was constant fear and suspicion of people supposedly working in a fifth column to spread the influence of communism from within.
See also: column, fifth
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

fifth column

A secret subversive group that works against a country or organization from the inside, as in The government feared that there was a fifth column working to oppose its policies during the crisis . This term was invented by General Emilio Mola during the Spanish Civil War in a radio broadcast on October 16, 1936, in which he said that he had una quinta columna ("a fifth column") of sympathizers for General Franco among the Republicans holding the city of Madrid, and it would join his four columns of troops when they attacked. The term was popularized by Ernest Hemingway and later extended to any traitorous insiders.
See also: column, fifth
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

dodge the column

shirk your duty; avoid work. British informal
Column is a military term which refers to the usual formation of troops for marching.
See also: column, dodge

fifth column

an organized group of people sympathizing with and working for the enemy within a country at war or otherwise under attack.
Fifth column is a translation of the Spanish phrase quinta columna : during the Spanish Civil War, an extra body of supporters was claimed by General Mola as being within Madrid when he besieged the city with four columns of Nationalist forces in 1936 .
See also: column, fifth
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
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References in periodicals archive ?
A columned square building, perhaps similar to the Room VII example, was excavated at Carchemish (Woolley and Barnett 1952: 179-81, pls.
Royal Gardens, Parks, and the Architecture Within: Assyrian Views
We also used item discrimination analysis to assess correctness and to discriminate between participants presented with columned or justified formats.
College of American Pathologists Cancer Protocols: Optimizing Format for Accuracy and Efficiency
He was ultimately apprehended just inside the North Portico doors - the grand, columned entrance that looks out over Pennsylvania Avenue.
Fence jump scare at the White House
The home, designed by Sarasota architect Yehuda Inbar, presents a Tuscan-inspired facade to the world, with a grand exterior staircase complete with a pond, and a columned loggia overlooking manicured gardens--perhaps the nicest on a street known for its gardens.
Home of the month: tuscan style with a downtown view
At press time, a ballet company was said to be moving into the space, but the announcement letter made no official mention of that--instead the letter looked forward to the next bright spaces to dot the NYC landscape and thanked artists and administrators who passed through the columned space.
The kids leave the backyard
The chapel's architectural division into columned bays allows each to comfortably accommodate one painting, hung within the space rather than affixed to the wall and seen in sequentially rotating views, as if we are encircling the skull as we move around the chapel.
Patrice Moor
Surrounded by over a thousand mature trees, meandering water bodies, regally columned verandahs, elegant interiors, spacious guest rooms equipped with state of the art technology; it is an ideal destination for the leisure and corporate travellers alike.
Abu Dhabi Dusit boosts presence
As many as 50 people were wounded in the blast that blew out the windows of the lower floors of the imposing columned building, a health ministry spokesman told Rossiya-24 television.
Explosion at Russian train station kills at least 13 (updated)
As the organization's largest fundraiser of the year, Childhelp will host a holiday boutique from 10: 30 am to 2:30 pm, in the Millennium Biltmore stately Gold Ballroom with more than 20 vendors nestled among the balustrades and columned arches and featuring accessories, clothing, holiday gifts, and more.
Childhelp Help Announces Wonderland 2013
After opening, there was a huge dissociated columned mass locally attached to the posterolateral wall of the middle third of the oesophagus (fig 3).
A rare oesophageal tumour
It has five interconnected halls, two columned halls and a courtyard.
1,600-year-old house found almost intact in Lorestan
Khalid Bizari, a senior official at the Palestinian Ministry of Antiques and Ruins, told Gulf News that Sabastiya is known for its ruins and antiques including the Basilica, Forum, Theatre, Hellenistic Defensive Tower, Temple of Augustus, Columned Street, City Wall and Gates, Greek Monastery Church, Stadium, Crusader Cathedral, Dome Tomb and the Small Chapel.
Israel pressed to return stolen sculptures
The 17th century Palacio de los Condes de Miravalle features original components such as the stone-forge staircase with intricate handrails, handmade cement tiles, and columned arches that have all been preserved.
Company Watch - Design Hotel
The grand columned Anglo-Italianate facade of Chelsea's 10-building London Terrace Gardens apartment complex, built in 1930 and 1931, had been covered in scaffolding since 2008 while undergoing a massive restoration project, but that scaffolding is now beginning to come down.
Restoration of London Terrace Gardens nears completion, tenants brace for increases
The resort features a three-story, columned main hotel and cabins.
Dolen Perkins-Valdez. Wench
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