Definitions

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

  • noun A large handkerchief usually patterned and brightly colored.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A species of silk or cotton handkerchief, having a uniformly dyed ground, usually of red or blue, with white or yellow figures of a circular, lozenge, or other simple form; -- it is often used as a neckerchief. The term is also used for any large and brightly colored handkerchief.
  • noun Any scarf worn on the neck or head, usually of large size.
  • noun A style of calico printing, in which white or bright spots are produced upon cloth previously dyed of a uniform red or dark color, by discharging portions of the color by chemical means, while the rest of the cloth is under pressure.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Alternative spelling of bandana.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun large and brightly colored handkerchief; often used as a neckerchief

Etymologies

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

[Probably Portuguese, from Hindi bāndhnū, tie-dyeing, from bāndhnā, to tie, from Sanskrit bandhati, he ties; see bhendh- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • Nash directed Katani and Yurt to go back to the swamp and soak a bandanna with cold water.

    Beacon Street Girls: Lake Rescue Annie Bryant 2008

  • Nash directed Katani and Yurt to go back to the swamp and soak a bandanna with cold water.

    Beacon Street Girls: Lake Rescue Annie Bryant 2008

  • The man wearing the bandanna was the only one who seemed at all a familiar figure, -- merely, perhaps, because he was American in build, clothing, and movement.

    The Flaming Jewel 1899

  • The man wearing the bandanna was the only one who seemed at all a familiar figure, -- merely, perhaps, because he was American in build, clothing, and movement.

    The Flaming Jewel 1899

  • I had a chuckle looking at Oprah so far removed from her own Mississippi roots when she couldn't even lift up a bucket of water to balance on her head, like the young girl she was with here's a clue, Oprah: it's called a bandanna, you wrap it around like a turban, place it on your head, and if positioned correctly, the bucket should balance itself on this apparatus - I'm sure your rural, impoverished grandmother knew something about this, if you had listened to her various instructions instead of daydreaming that you would never do what she was doing; you might have spared yourself the embarrassment of not being able to do what most women of African descent in this world know how to do - but I digress.

    The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy: Black Feminism, Surrogate Motherhood, or Colonialist Fantasy? Anxious Black Woman 2007

  • I had a chuckle looking at Oprah so far removed from her own Mississippi roots when she couldn't even lift up a bucket of water to balance on her head, like the young girl she was with here's a clue, Oprah: it's called a bandanna, you wrap it around like a turban, place it on your head, and if positioned correctly, the bucket should balance itself on this apparatus - I'm sure your rural, impoverished grandmother knew something about this, if you had listened to her various instructions instead of daydreaming that you would never do what she was doing; you might have spared yourself the embarrassment of not being able to do what most women of African descent in this world know how to do - but I digress.

    Archive 2007-03-01 Anxious Black Woman 2007

  • - raises dust, methodically erasing and re-erasing the back line of the batter's box, and chews and spits and touches his crotch to make sure it's still there, the white foul lines stretch and stretch, way out to where forever might be, and the orange-yellow smoke curls into the night and the blood rushes down the Oriental man's head his bandanna is a swaying burgundy lagoon with floating Chinese characters.

    The Daily Iowan - Online Edition 2009

  • - raises dust, methodically erasing and re-erasing the back line of the batter's box, and chews and spits and touches his crotch to make sure it's still there, the white foul lines stretch and stretch, way out to where forever might be, and the orange-yellow smoke curls into the night and the blood rushes down the Oriental man's head his bandanna is a swaying burgundy lagoon with floating Chinese characters.

    The Daily Iowan - Online Edition 2009

  • The David Brown Clothing collection included jeans, tees and hoodies all with the signature Young Buck "bandanna" print inspiration.

    SOHH.com Dailies 2009

  • "bandanna"; -- quite suggestive of the every day wear of foreign peasantry.

    Over the Border: Acadia, the Home of "Evangeline"

Comments

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  • bandanna a tie-dye word

    January 16, 2007