Columbus

From Latin columbus (“a dove”). The verb is a reference to the Italian explorer.

• IPA^(key): /kəˈlʌmbəs/

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Columbus

1. A male given name.
2. A surname​.
3. Christopher Columbus (1451?–1506), Italian explorer of the Americas.
4. The capital city of the state of Ohio in the United States of America, and the county seat of Franklin County.
5. Any of various cities, towns and villages in the United States.
   1. A city in Georgia, USA, and the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it is consolidated.
   2. A city in Bartholomew County, Indiana.
   3. A city in Kansas, and the county seat of Cherokee County.
   4. A city in Mississippi, USA, and the county seat of Lowndes County.
   5. A town in Montana, and the county seat of Stillwater County.
   6. A city in Nebraska, and the county seat of Platte County.
   7. A town in North Carolina, and the county seat of Polk County.
   8. A city in Texas, USA, and the county seat of Colorado County.

• (capital city of Ohio): Col's

• Columbian
• Columbian Exchange
• Columbus County

Columbus (third-person singular simple present Columbuses, present participle Columbusing, simple past and past participle Columbused)

1. (possibly dated, slang) To explore; to go around exploring, to go around as an explorer.
   • 1893, American Boys Afloat: Or, Cruising in the Orient, page 150:

     "But, boy the powers of mud, I belayve you fellers mane to make an indepindint cruise in the Orient, and go Columbusing all over the ocean boy the way ye's talk!"

   • 1908, Out West, volume 28, page 90:

     Callous as the old mummy was about anything and everything save his pet hobby, archaeology, he would sit up and take notice of such a vision ; and Peter felt that, having Columbused the discovery, he had the better right to it.

   • 1908, Sunset, volume 20, page 271:

     To the west of the river lay the country in which I went Columbusing — the enchanted desert whose southern boundary was where the sky reached down and merged with the earth curve, and whose northern limit was the Harqua Hala range […]

   • 1921, Forest Leaves, volume 15, page lxx:

     No street car line passes it, so you'll have to do a little Columbusing on your own account-to find it-—but it's worth discovering, and President Gardner's phophecy sounds conservative.

2. To appropriate; to lay claim to something, especially a discovery, which belongs to someone else.
   • 2014, NPR: 'Columbusing': The Art Of Discovering Something That Is Not New:

     Of course, there is no bouncer, but we can be careful not to Columbus other culture's traditions.

   • 2015, Elucidating Social Science Concepts: An Interpretivist Guide:

     It is control of stories and storytelling that are ultimately at stake for this blogger and for others who speak of Columbusing in Washington, DC […]