colony
col·o·ny / ˈkälənē/ • n. (pl. -nies) 1. a country or area under the full or partial political control of another country, typically a distant one, and occupied by settlers from that country. ∎ a group of people living in such a country or area, consisting of the original settlers and their descendants and successors. ∎ (the Colonies) chiefly British term for Thirteen Colonies. ∎ (the colonies) all the foreign countries or areas formerly under British political control.2. a group of people of one nationality or ethnic group living in a foreign city or country: the British colony in New York. ∎ a place where a group of people with similar interests live together: an artists' colony.3. Biol. a community of animals or plants of one kind living together or forming a physically connected structure. ∎ a group of fungi or bacteria grown from a single spore or cell on a culture medium.ORIGIN: late Middle English (denoting a settlement formed mainly of retired soldiers, acting as a garrison in newly conquered territory in the Roman Empire): from Latin colonia ‘settlement, farm,’ from colonus ‘settler, farmer,’ from colere ‘cultivate.’