personal column

personal column (plural personal columns)

1. Part of a newspaper or magazine in which people can have personal messages published.
   • 1923, Ernest Bramah, The Eyes of Max Carrados:

     She saw in the occasion an opportunity and on the morning of the sixth a message appeared in the personal column of The Daily Telegraph—their usual channel of communication—making an assignation.

   • 1979, Rupert Holmes, “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)”, in Partners in Crime:

     I read the paper in bed / And in the personal columns / There was this letter I read

• “personal column”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “personal column”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “personal column”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “personal column” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “personal column” (US) / “personal column” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.