1. A group of emigrants or their descendants who settle in a distant land but remain subject to or closely connected with the parent country.
2. A group of people with the same ethnic origin or interests concentrated in a particular area.
3. A group of the same kind of animals, plants, or one-celled organisms living or growing together.
4. Etymology: citizens of an "ancient Roman settlement outside Italy", from Latin colonia, "settled land, farm, landed estate"; from colonus, "husbandman, tenant farmer, settler in a new land"; from colere, "to inhabit, to cultivate, to frequent, to practice, to tend, to guard, to respect"; source of Latin -cola, "inhabitant".