colonus

[ kuh-loh-nuhs ]

noun,plural co·lo·ni

[kuh-loh-nahy, -nee]. /kəˈloʊ naɪ, -ni/.

a serf in the latter period of the Roman Empire or in the early feudal period.

Origin of colonus

First recorded in 1885–90; from Latin colōnus “inhabitant of a colony, tenant farmer, farmer,” derivative of colere “to inhabit, till, cultivate”; cf. cult, cultivate

Words Nearby colonus

How to use colonus in a sentence

He lived to be ninety years old, and produced the most beautiful of his tragedies in his eightieth year, the "Oedipus at colonus."
Beacon Lights of History, Volume I | John Lord
He argued that the Roman name was colonus, which readily was transformed to a Spanish equivalent.
Christopher Columbus and How He Received and Imparted the Spirit of Discovery | Justin Winsor
It will be admitted on all hands that this would be much too large a tenement for a serf or a semi-servile colonus.
Domesday Book and Beyond | Frederic William Maitland
In 405 Sophocles showed in his last play how Oedipus passed from earth in the poet's own birthplace, colonus.
Authors of Greece | T. W. Lumb
Then seek there a man by name of Tobias, a colonus and a worker in ivory for the good Christian priests.
Nicanor - Teller of Tales | C. Bryson Taylor

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