Lexic.us

Definition of Fifth column

1. Noun. A subversive group that supports the enemy and engages in espionage or sabotage; an enemy in your midst.

Definition of Fifth column

1. Noun. (dated) A group of people which clandestinely undermines a larger group, such as a nation, to which it is expected to be loyal. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Fifth Column

Literary usage of Fifth column

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. 20th Century Bookkeeping and Accounting: A Treatise on Modern Bookkeeping by James Williams Baker (1918)
"The difference between the fifth column on each side of the cash book will always show the amount of cash in the bank which should agree with the ..."

2. The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the by Charles George Herbermann, Edward Aloysius Pace, Condé Bénoist Pallen, Thomas Joseph Shahan, John Joseph Wynne (1913)
""As employed by Origen in the fifth column of the Hexapla, the obelus was ... The fifth column, therefore. Contained not the mere text of the Septuagint ..."

3. The Negro in Chicago: A Study of Race Relations and a Race Riot by Illinois Chicago Commission on Race Relations (1922)
"Of the remaining thirty-one families in that district, seven fell in the one-fifth column, twelve in the one-sixth column, six in the one-seventh column, ..."

4. The Negro in Chicago: A Study of Race Relations and a Race Riot by Chicago Commission on Race Relations (1922)
"Of the remaining thirty-one families in that district, seven fell in the one-fifth column, twelve in the one-sixth column, six in the one-seventh column, ..."

5. The Voyages of Captain James Cook: Illustrated with Maps and Numerous by James Cook (1842)
"But as we had frequent opportunities of ascertaining the variation of its daily error, or finding its new rate, the fifth column has the longitude, ..."

6. Principles of Economics by Fred Manville Taylor (1921)
"The figures in this fifth column which are not in parenthesis represent the actual increase in output, and are, of course, obtained for any particular ..."

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