water column

noun

plural water columns

1

: a vertical expanse of water stretching between the surface and the floor of a body of water

Shallow feeders, sea lions work the top 600 feet of the water column for hake, rock-fish, herring, sardines … and squid, but opportunistically capturing anything that happens by.

—Downs Matthews

Only a few animals of the water column above would have died and settled into the sediments below during the short time when the mudslide was coalescing into a layer of sediment in the stagnant basin.

—Stephen Jay Gould

2

: a vertical pipe with valves and spout for delivering water to a locomotive tender

Examples of water column in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

How deep to troll, too, is another variable, one again answered by locating fish in the water column with your depth finder. —M.d. Johnson, Field & Stream, 20 June 2024

Squids commonly leave clumps of their eggs on the seafloor, allowing their natural buoyancy to carry thousands of eggs into the water column, researchers said. —Irene Wright, Sacramento Bee, 14 June 2024

According to the Griz, how your bait is being presented (speed, action, angle) and its position in the water column are critical points. —Alex Robinson, Outdoor Life, 13 June 2024

Without ice cover, sunlight can more easily penetrate the water column. —Madeline Heim, Journal Sentinel, 19 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1845, in the meaning defined at sense 1