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.
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!
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.
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.
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 informalColumn is a military term which refers to the usual formation of troops for marching.
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 .
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017