band

1
[ band ]
/ bænd /

noun

a company of persons or, sometimes, animals or things, joined, acting, or functioning together; aggregation; party; troop: a band of protesters.
Music.
  1. a group of instrumentalists playing music of a specialized type: rock band; calypso band; mariachi band.
  2. a musical group, usually employing brass, percussion, and often woodwind instruments, that plays especially for marching or open-air performances.
  3. big band.
  4. dance band.
a division of a nomadic tribe; a group of individuals who move and camp together and subsist by hunting and gathering.
a group of persons living outside the law: a renegade band.

verb (used with object)

to unite in a troop, company, or confederacy.

verb (used without object)

to unite; confederate (often followed by together): They banded together to oust the chairman.

Idioms for band

    to beat the band, Informal. energetically; abundantly: It rained all day to beat the band.

Origin of band

1
1480–90; < Middle French bande < Italian banda; cognate with Late Latin bandum < Germanic; akin to Gothic bandwa standard, band2, band3, bend1, bond1

synonym study for band

1. See company.

Definition for band (2 of 4)

band 2
[ band ]
/ bænd /

noun

verb (used with object)

to mark, decorate, or furnish with a band or bands.

Origin of band

2
1480–90; < Middle French; Old French bende < Germanic; compare Old High German binta fillet. See bind, band1

OTHER WORDS FROM band

band·er, noun band·less, adjective

Definition for band (3 of 4)

band 3
[ band ]
/ bænd /

noun Archaic.

Usually bands. articles for binding the person or the limbs; shackles; manacles; fetters.
an obligation; bond: the nuptial bands.

Origin of band

3
1100–50; late Old English < Old Norse band; cognate with Old Saxon, Old Frisian band, Old High German bant; akin to Sanskrit bandha-. See band1

Definition for band (4 of 4)

Geneva bands

plural noun

two bands or pendent stripes made usually of white lawn and worn at the throat as part of clerical garb, originally by the Swiss Calvinist clergy.
Also called bands.

Origin of Geneva bands

First recorded in 1880–85

Example sentences from the Web for band

British Dictionary definitions for band (1 of 4)

band 1
/ (bænd) /

noun

verb

(usually foll by together) to unite; assemble

Word Origin for band

C15: from French bande probably from Old Provençal banda of Germanic origin; compare Gothic bandwa sign, banner

British Dictionary definitions for band (2 of 4)

band 2
/ (bænd) /

noun

verb (tr)

to fasten or mark with a band
US and Canadian to ring (a bird) See ring 1 (def. 22)

Word Origin for band

C15: from Old French bende, of Germanic origin; compare Old High German binda fillet; see band ³

British Dictionary definitions for band (3 of 4)

band 3
/ (bænd) /

noun

an archaic word for bond (def. 1), bond (def. 3), bond (def. 4)

Word Origin for band

C13: from Old Norse band; related to Old High German bant fetter; see bend 1, bond

British Dictionary definitions for band (4 of 4)

Geneva bands

pl n

a pair of white lawn or linen strips hanging from the front of the neck or collar of some ecclesiastical and academic robes

Word Origin for Geneva bands

C19: named after Geneva, where originally worn by Swiss Calvinist clergy

Medical definitions for band

band
[ bănd ]

n.

An appliance or a part of an apparatus that encircles or binds a part of the body.
A cordlike tissue that connects or that holds bodily structures together.
A chromatically, structurally, or functionally differentiated strip or stripe in or on an organism.

Scientific definitions for band

band
[ bănd ]

A specific range of electromagnetic wavelengths or frequencies, as those used in radio broadcasting.

Idioms and Phrases with band

band

see on the bandwagon; to beat the band.