Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A group of people.
  • noun A group of animals.
  • noun Anthropology A unit of social organization especially among hunter-gatherers, consisting of a usually small number of families living together cooperatively.
  • noun Canadian An aboriginal group officially recognized as an organized unit by the Canadian government.
  • noun A group of musicians who perform as an ensemble.
  • intransitive verb To assemble or unite in a group.
  • intransitive verb To form a group; unite.
  • noun A thin strip of flexible material used to encircle and bind one object or to hold a number of objects together.
  • noun A strip or stripe that contrasts with something else in color, texture, or material.
  • noun A narrow strip of fabric used to trim, finish, or reinforce articles of clothing.
  • noun Something that constrains or binds morally or legally.
  • noun A simple ungrooved ring, especially a wedding ring.
  • noun A neckband or collar.
  • noun The two strips hanging from the front of a collar as part of the dress of certain clerics, scholars, and lawyers.
  • noun A high collar popular in the 16th and 17th centuries.
  • noun Biology A chromatically, structurally, or functionally differentiated strip or stripe in or on an organism.
  • noun Anatomy A cordlike tissue that connects or holds structures together.
  • noun A specific range of wavelengths or frequencies of electromagnetic radiation.
  • noun A range of very closely spaced electron energy levels in solids, the distribution and nature of which determine the electrical properties of a material.
  • noun Any of the distinct grooves on a long-playing phonograph record that contains an individual selection or a separate section of a whole.
  • noun A cord or strip across the back of a book to which the sheets or quires are attached.
  • transitive verb To tie, bind, or encircle with or as if with a band.
  • transitive verb To mark or identify with a band.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To unite in a troop, company, or confederacy: generally reflexive.
  • To unite; associate; confederate for some common purpose.
  • noun A ridge of a hill: commonly applied in the English lake district to a long ridge-like hill of minor height, or to a long narrow sloping offshoot from a higher hill or mountain.
  • noun A flat strip of any material, but especially of a flexible material, used to bind round anything; a fillet: as, a rubber band; a band around the head; a hat-band.
  • noun Anything resembling a band in form or function.
  • noun The form of collar commonly worn by men and women in the seventeenth century in western Europe.
  • noun The linen ornament worn about the neck, with the ends hanging down in front, by certain Protestant clergymen.
  • noun In mining, a layer of rock interstratified with the coal; sometimes, as in Cumberland, England, the coal itself.
  • noun A company of persons, especially a body of armed men; a company of soldiers, or of persons united for any purpose.
  • noun In music, a company of musicians playing various instruments in combination, in the manner of an orchestra: most frequently applied to a company of musicians playing such instruments as may be used in marching.
  • noun A collection of animals of any kind, as a drove of cattle or horses, or a flock of sheep.
  • noun Anything which binds the person or the limbs, and serves to restrain or to deprive of liberty; a shackle, manacle, or fetter: usually in the plural.
  • noun That by which loose things of the same or a similar kind are bound together.
  • noun That which connects; a connecting piece, or means of connection; that which connects or unites the several parts of a complex thing.
  • noun Specifically— In logic, the copula.
  • noun The metallic sleeve which binds the barrel and stock of a musket together.
  • noun One of two pieces of iron fastened to the bows of a saddle to keep them in place.
  • noun A leaden came. See came.
  • noun A hyphen.
  • noun A binding or uniting power or influence: as, a band of union.
  • noun An obligation imposing reciprocal, legal, or moral duties: as, the nuptial bands.
  • noun A binding promise or agreement; a bond or security given.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Earlier bande, from Old French, banner, troop identified by its standard, of Germanic origin.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English bende (from Old English bend and from Old French bande, bende, of Germanic origin) and Middle English bond, band (from Old Norse, band); see bhendh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English band (also bond), from Old English beand, bænd, bend ("bond, chain, fetter, band, ribbon, ornament, chaplet, crown"), from Proto-Germanic *bandaz, *bandiz (“band, fetter”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to tie, bind”). Middle English band reinforced by Old French bande. Cognate with Dutch band, German Band, Danish bånd, Swedish band, Icelandic bandur ("band"). Related to bond, bind, bend.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English band, from Old French bande, from Old Provençal banda ("regiment of troops"), probably from West Germanic *banda or Gothic, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to tie, bind”).

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word band.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.