band 1
/band/ , n.
1. a company of persons or, sometimes, animals or things, joined, acting, or functioning together; aggregation; party; troop: a band of protesters.
2. Music.
a. a group of instrumentalists playing music of a specialized type: rock band; calypso band; mariachi band.
b. a musical group, usually employing brass, percussion, and often woodwind instruments, that plays esp. for marching or open-air performances.
c. See big band .
d. See dance band .
3. a division of a nomadic tribe; a group of individuals who move and camp together and subsist by hunting and gathering.
4. a group of persons living outside the law: a renegade band.
5. to beat the band , Informal. energetically; abundantly: It rained all day to beat the band.
v.t.
6. to unite in a troop, company, or confederacy.
v.i.
7. to unite; confederate (often fol. by together ): They banded together to oust the chairman.
[ 1480-90; bande banda; c. LL bandum bandwa standard, BAND 2 , BAND 3 , BEND 1 , BOND 1 ]
Syn. 1. gang, group; body; set; society, association, assembly. See company .
band 2
— bander , n. — bandless , adj.
/band/ , n.
1. a thin, flat strip of some material for binding, confining, trimming, protecting, etc.: a band on each bunch of watercress.
2. a fillet, belt, or strap: a band for the hair; a band for connecting pulleys.
3. a stripe, as of color or decorative work.
4. a strip of paper or other material serving as a label: a cigar band.
5. a plain or simply styled ring, without mounted gems or the like: a thin gold band on his finger.
6. (on a long-playing phonograph record) one of a set of grooves in which sound has been recorded, separated from an adjacent set or sets by grooves without recorded sound.
7. bands . See Geneva bands .
8. a flat collar commonly worn by men and women in the 17th century in western Europe.
9. Also called frequency band, wave band . Radio and Television. a specific range of frequencies, esp. a set of radio frequencies, as HF, VHF, and UHF.
10. Also called energy band . Physics. a closely spaced group of energy levels of electrons in a solid.
11. Computers. one or more tracks or channels on a magnetic drum.
12. Dentistry. a strip of thin metal encircling a tooth, usually for anchoring an orthodontic apparatus.
13. Anat. , Zool. a ribbonlike or cordlike structure encircling, binding, or connecting a part or parts.
14. (in handbound books) one of several cords of hemp or flax handsewn across the back of the collated signatures of a book to provide added strength.
v.t.
15. to mark, decorate, or furnish with a band or bands.
[ 1480-90; bende binta fillet. See BIND, BAND 1 ]
band 3
/band/ , n. Archaic.
1. Usually, bands . articles for binding the person or the limbs; shackles; manacles; fetters.
2. an obligation; bond: the nuptial bands.
[ 1100-50; late OE band; c. OS, OFris band, OHG bant; akin to Skt bandha-. See BAND 1 ]