Columbus

1. A male given name from Latin.
2. A surname.
   1. Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), Italian explorer of the Americas.
3. Any of various cities, towns and villages in the United States:
   1. The capital city of Ohio, and the county seat of Franklin County.

      And exactly a month to the date after kissing the world with her sixth studio album, Short n' Sweet (it's like she planned it or smth...), she's [Sabrina Carpenter] kicking off her Short n' Sweet Tour in Columbus, Ohio on September 23.

      2024 September 21, Heath Owens, “What to Wear to Sabrina Carpenter's 'Short N' Sweet' Tour”, in Cosmopolitan, archived from the original on 10 Dec 2024

      Synonyms: Col's

   2. A city, the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, with which it is consolidated.
   3. A village in Adams County, Illinois.
   4. A city, the county seat of Bartholomew County, Indiana.
   5. A city, the county seat of Cherokee County, Kansas.
   6. A tiny home rule city in Hickman County, Kentucky.
   7. A small city in Anoka County, Minnesota, previously a township.
   8. A city, the county seat of Lowndes County, Mississippi.
   9. An unincorporated community and inactive township in Johnson County, Missouri.
   10. A town, the county seat of Stillwater County, Montana.
   11. A city, the county seat of Platte County, Nebraska.
   12. An unincorporated community in Mansfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey.
   13. A village in Luna County, New Mexico.
   14. A town in Chenango County, New York.
   15. A town, the county seat of Polk County, North Carolina.
   16. A tiny city in Burke County, North Dakota.
   17. A small city, the county seat of Colorado County, Texas.
   18. A small city in Columbia County and Dodge County, Wisconsin.
   19. A town in Columbia County, Wisconsin.
   20. A number of townships, in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan (2), Nebraska and Pennsylvania, listed under Columbus Township.

plural Columbuses

1. A person who makes a great discovery.

   It is colossal. You are a Columbus of science who has discovered a lost world.

   1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, “‘It’s Just the very Biggest Thing in the World’”, in The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 58

present singular third person Columbuses · participle present Columbusing · participle past Columbused · past Columbused

1. datedpossiblyslangTo explore; to go around exploring, to go around as an explorer.

   "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!"

   1893, American Boys Afloat: Or, Cruising in the Orient, page 150

   3 more examples

   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, Out West, volume 28, page 90

   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 […]

   1908, Sunset, volume 20, page 271

   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.

   1921, Forest Leaves, volume 15, page lxx

2. USderogatoryslangTo appropriate; to lay claim to something, especially a discovery, which is perceived as belonging to someone else.

   He then lists other things that have been Columbused, such as twerking by Miley Cyrus and hummus by “health conscious whities.”

   2015, Frederic Charles Schaffer, Elucidating Social Science Concepts, Routledge, →ISBN, page 54

   2 more examples

   When his black friend tells him that many people knew about the bar before he did, his white friend retorts by saying that he “Columbused it”; i.e., discovered it for white people before a gaggle of hip white people flooded in.

   2014, Justin Simien, Dear White People, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 97

   If you've danced to an Afrobeat-heavy pop song, dipped hummus, sipped coconut water, participated in a Desi-inspired color run or sported a henna tattoo, then you've Columbused something. […] Sometimes, though, Columbusing can feel icky. […] Of course, there is no bouncer, but we can be careful not to Columbus other culture's traditions.

   2014 July 6, Brenda Salinas, “‘Columbusing’: The Art Of Discovering Something That Is Not New”, in NPR, archived from the original on 08 Aug 2020

1. pluralplural of Columbu