band

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.

• 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 An obsolete or Scotch preterit of bind.
• To interdict; banish.
• 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.
• noun A surety; a bondsman.