band

1 of 3

noun (1)

ˈband 

1

: something that confines or constricts while allowing a degree of movement

2

: something that binds or restrains legally, morally, or spiritually

3

: a strip serving to join or hold things together: such as

a

: belt sense 2

b

: a cord or strip across the back of a book to which the sections are sewn

4

: a thin flat encircling strip: such as

a

: a close-fitting strip that confines material at the waist, neck, or cuff of clothing

b

: a strip of cloth used to protect a newborn baby's navel

called also bellyband

c

: a ring of elastic

5

a

: a strip (as of living tissue or rock) or a stripe (as on an animal) differentiable (as by color, texture, or structure) from the adjacent material or area

b

: a more or less well-defined range of wavelengths, frequencies, or energies

c

: range sense 7a

6

: a narrow strip serving chiefly as decoration: such as

a

: a narrow strip of material applied as trimming to an article of dress

b

bands plural : a pair of strips hanging at the front of the neck as part of a clerical, legal, or academic dress

c

: a ring without raised portions

7

: track sense 2e(2)

band

2 of 3

verb

banded; banding; bands

transitive verb

1

: to affix a band to or tie up with a band

2

: to finish or decorate with a band

3

: to gather together : unite

banded themselves together for protection

intransitive verb

: to unite for a common purpose

—often used with together

have banded together in hopes of attacking the blight that is common to them all

—J. B. Conant

bander noun

band

3 of 3

noun (2)

: a group of persons, animals, or things

especially : a group of musicians organized for ensemble playing

Synonyms

Noun (1)

• circle
• eye
• hoop
• loop
• ring
• round

Verb

• begird
• belt
• engird [archaic]
• engirdle
• enwind
• gird
• girdle
• girt
• girth
• wrap

Noun (2)

• orchestra
• philharmonic
• symphony
• symphony orchestra

Examples of band in a Sentence

Noun (1)

a band of cloth tied around his wrist

numerous bands of plastic held the toy securely in the box

skunks have a band of white down their backs

Verb

banded the waist of the dress with a matching belt

banded the newspapers together for delivery

Noun (2)

that band is looking for a new singer

a band of volunteer searchers found the lost child

a band of explorers

a band of songbirds

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Schaffer started addressing his political beliefs after 9/11 both in song (the band’s 2004 album, The Glorious Burden, took inspiration from the Civil War) and in interviews. —Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 25 Oct. 2024

More albums followed as the band’s acclaim and notoriety grew. —Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork, 25 Oct. 2024

Verb

Seemingly every other person dresses in denim shorts and band T-shirts—Slayer, Megadeth, Pantera, AC/DC, Metallica, Judas Priest, Van Halen, Black Sabbath. —Sean Williams, Harper's Magazine, 23 Sep. 2024

At 15, he was hired for a seasonal job on the island conducting a bird census route each morning and banding the animals. —Joe Spring, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

in senses 1 & 2, from Middle English band, bond something that constricts, from Old Norse band; akin to Old English bindan to bind; in other senses, from Middle English bande strip, from Middle French, from Vulgar Latin *binda, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German binta fillet; akin to Old English bindan to bind, bend fetter — more at bind

Noun (2)

borrowed from Middle French bande "troop, company of people," borrowed from Old Occitan banda, going back to Late Latin banda, plural of bandum "flag, standard" (attested in glosses), borrowed from Gothic bandwo "sign, signal" (or a cognate Germanic word), of uncertain origin

Note: The meaning of the Latin word is well illustrated by the following passage from Paul the Deacon's History of the Lombards (Historia Langobardorum, 1.20), written in the late eighth century: "Tato vero Rodulfi vexillum, quod bandum appellant, eiusque galeam, quam in bello gestare consueverat, abstulit." ("Tato [a Lombard king] indeed carried off the banner of Rodulf [a king of the Heruli, a Germanic people], which they call bandum, and his helmet, which he had been accustomed to wear in battle") The presumption is that the standard, which served as a rallying or assembly point for a group of soldiers, was applied to the group itself, and the meaning further generalized to any company of people. — The Gothic word bandwo is generally taken as descending from Indo-European *b^heh₂- "shine, give light, appear" (see fantasy entry 1) though derivational detail is lacking. D. Kroonen (Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Brill, 2013) sees it as from *b^honh₂-tu̯éh₂, from the base of Germanic *bannan- "speak formally, call on, order" (from *b^honh₂-e-, per Kroonen; see ban entry 1 ). The Gothic noun has a verbal derivative bandwjan "to give a sign, reveal," with a prefixed form gabandwjan. The verb is matched by Old Icelandic benda "to beckon, give a sign, forebode," apparently the only other Germanic evidence for the etymon.

First Known Use

Noun (1)

12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Noun (2)

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing band

• absorption band
• band-pass filter
• band saw
• band shell
• band together
• big band
• boy band
• brass band
• citizens band
• conduction band
• cover band
• elastic band
• garage band
• jam band
• jug band
• K-band
• marching band
• one-man band
• rhythm band
• rubber band
• steel band
• to beat the band
• valence band
• wave band
• wedding band
• X band

Kids Definition

band

1 of 3 noun

ˈband 

1

: something that confines or constricts while allowing some movement

2

: something that binds or restrains legally, morally, or spiritually

3

: a strip serving to join or hold things together

4

: a strip that is different (as in color, texture, or composition) from nearby matter

a black beak with a white band

5

: a range of wavelengths, frequencies, or energies between two specified limits

banded

ˈban-dəd

adjective

band

2 of 3 verb

1

: to put a band on

2

: to tie up with a band

3

: to join in a group

banded together for protection

band

3 of 3 noun

1

: a group of persons, animals, or things

2

: a group of musicians playing together

Etymology

Noun

partly from a word of Norse origin meaning "something that binds" and partly from early French bande "stripe"; of Germanic origin

Noun

from early French bande "troop," derived from an earlier word of Germanic origin

Medical Definition

band

noun

ˈband 

1

: a thin flat encircling strip especially for binding: as

a

: a strip of cloth used to protect a newborn baby's navel

called also bellyband

b

: a thin flat strip of metal that encircles a tooth

orthodontic bands

2

: a strip separated by some characteristic color or texture or considered apart from what is adjacent: as

a

: a stripe, streak, or other elongated mark on an animal

especially : one transverse to the long axis of the body

b

: a line or streak of differentiated cells

c

: one of the alternating dark and light segments of skeletal muscle fibers

d

: band cell

e

: a strip of abnormal tissue either congenital or acquired

especially : a strip of connective tissue that causes obstruction of the bowel