band
Pluralbands
Pluralbands
- 1A group of musicians who play together, such as a rock group, a jazz band, or a concert or marching band.
The band rehearsed the new set list every evening that week.
Touring bands often hire extra players for larger venues.
UsageYou play in, join or form a band.
Note
A different word from the strip of material, though the two roots meet far back. This band came through Old French bande from Old Occitan banda, "a regiment of troops", so a band of musicians was first a company.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The musical sense and the strip-of-material sense have distinct transmission histories. en.wiktionary.org
- The two senses ultimately share an etymological source. en.wiktionary.org
- The musical sense came through Old French bande from Old Occitan banda, meaning a regiment of troops. en.wiktionary.org
- The musical sense developed from a word for a company or group. en.wiktionary.org
- 2A loosely organized group of people joined by a shared aim, such as thieves or smugglers.
A ragged band of refugees crossed the mountains before winter.
Rival bands of smugglers fought over the coastal routes.
UsageOften a band of + people: a band of thieves, a band of volunteers.
Similargroup, gang, party, crew, troop
Note
The old military meaning of the root, "a regiment of troops", shows most clearly here. The classic frame is a leader and his band: Howard Pyle's Robin Hood and his band in Sherwood Forest, and L. Frank Baum's King of the Monkeys and his band.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The word's ancestor had the military meaning a regiment of troops. en.wiktionary.org
- Howard Pyle depicts Robin Hood and his band living in Sherwood Forest. gutenberg.org
- L. Frank Baum depicts the King of the Monkeys and his band in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. gutenberg.org
- 3A flat, thin strip or loop of material, such as elastic, fabric, or metal, put around something to hold it together, strengthen it, or decorate it.
She secured the rolled blueprints with a wide elastic band.
Each pallet of bricks was held by steel bands.
UsageOften a rubber band or an elastic band; a band around something.
Similarstrip, strap, loop, hoop, ring
Note
The sense closest to the word's root. Joseph C. Lincoln's Mr. Pratt's Patients (1913) offers cigars "with gilt bands on 'em".
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Joseph C. Lincoln wrote Mr. Pratt's Patients. archive.org
- Mr. Pratt's Patients was first published in 1913. archive.org
- 4A ring, such as a wedding ring, or a ring fastened to a bird's leg to identify it.
The jeweler engraved their initials inside the platinum band.
Each captured warbler wore a numbered metal band.
UsageCommon combinations include wedding band, gold band and bird band.
Similarring
Note
A plain ring is a band, and a wedding ring is a wedding band, while ring remains the general word for both. The same noun covers the numbered ring fastened to a bird's leg, which pairs it with the bird-marking verb.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Birds can be identified by numbered bands attached to their legs. usgs.gov
- 5A stripe or strip of color, texture, or decoration that differs from the area around it.
A pale band of sandstone ran through the canyon wall.
The marble was streaked with bands of gray and white.
UsageOften a band of a color or material: a band of cloud, bands of gray.
- 6A particular part of the electromagnetic spectrum, spanning a defined range of frequencies.
The satellite transmits data on a high-frequency band.
Astronomers observed the galaxy across several bands of the spectrum.
UsageUsually with a qualifier: the FM band, a high-frequency band; you broadcast on a band.
Similarrange
Note
Physics divides the spectrum into stretches. A band is a contiguous range of frequencies or wavelengths, marked off for broadcasting, communication or spectroscopic analysis. The word always names a span, never a single frequency.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The electromagnetic spectrum is divided into bands covering ranges of frequencies or wavelengths. nasa.gov
- Bands are used in broadcasting, communication and spectroscopic analysis. science.nasa.gov
- In this sense, a band covers a frequency interval rather than a single frequency. nasa.gov
- 7To join together with others for a common purpose.
The neighbors banded together to oppose the new highway.
Small farmers band together to negotiate fairer prices.
UsageAlmost always band together.
Similarunite, team, join, ally, combine
Note
In the King James Bible of 1611, "certaine of the Iewes banded together" when it was day.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The King James Bible was first published in 1611. bridwell.omeka.net
- Acts 23:12 in the 1611 King James Bible contains the quoted wording and places the event when it was day. en.wiktionary.org
- 8A span of values, for example ages, incomes or prices, that makes up a single tier of a graded scale.
After her promotion, her salary moved up a band.
Players in the under-12 age band compete on a smaller field.
Similarbracket, tier, grade, range
Note
Picture a scale drawn as stacked stripes: each tier is a strip with edges, like a slice of the spectrum. The word usually follows the thing being graded, as in pay band or age band. Crossing an edge means moving up or down a band, while pay can also rise within one toward its top. The same idea, applied to pupils, gives the verb for streaming students.
Less common meanings
- 9To fasten an identifying ring around a bird's leg in order to track it.
Researchers band thousands of ducks each migration season.
She banded the owl before releasing it back into the forest.
UsageThe bird is the object: you band a duck, not the ring.
Note
Ornithologists use the verb for marking individual birds. A uniquely numbered metal or plastic ring goes on the leg so that the bird's movements, survival and behavior can be followed over time.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Birds are individually identified using numbered metal or plastic bands attached to their legs. nationalzoo.si.edu
- Banding enables researchers to study birds' movements, survival and behavior over time. usgs.gov
- 10
- 11
- 12A small group of people living in a simple society, distinct from tribes, chiefdoms, and nations.
Anthropologists classify the band as the simplest level of human social organization.
Foraging bands rarely number more than a few dozen people.
Note
Anthropology makes this the first rung of a scale: band, then tribe, chiefdom and state. A band is typically a kin-based group of a few dozen foragers, without formal leadership or economic classes. In this technical use the word is neutral and descriptive, with none of the outlaw coloring of the everyday "group" sense.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- The established four-level classification is band, tribe, chiefdom and state; its final category is state, not nation. americananthro.pressbooks.pub
- Bands typically consist of a few dozen foragers connected principally through kinship. ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in
- Bands typically lack formal leadership. americananthro.pressbooks.pub
- Bands generally lack economic classes and hereditary political ranks, but can have status differences based on age and gender. ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in
- 13A thousand dollars, originally a wad of bills held together by a band; by extension, a grand or money in general.
He dropped a band on a new set of speakers without blinking.
They counted out twenty bands on the table before the deal.
Note
Hip-hop slang that names cash after the strip around the stack, so the word for a binding strip becomes a unit of a thousand dollars. It is most at home in the plural, counted up or shown off: Fetty Wap's "Trap Queen" (2014) has the couple tallying theirs and seeing how far the money stretches.
- 14A group of closely spaced energy levels available to electrons in a solid material.
The valence band holds the electrons bound to individual atoms.
Conduction occurs when electrons reach an empty band above the gap.
Note
Solid-state physics borrows the picture of a stripe for energy. When atomic orbitals combine across a crystal lattice, electron levels merge into continuous ranges. The pair to know is valence band and conduction band, and how they are spaced and filled decides whether a material conducts. Keep it distinct from a range of the spectrum, which concerns radiation, not electrons.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Combining atomic orbitals in a solid produces closely spaced energy levels that form bands. chem-textbook.ucalgary.ca
- Valence band and conduction band are established terms. chem-textbook.ucalgary.ca
- Band spacing affects electrical conduction. chem-textbook.ucalgary.ca
- Band filling affects electrical conduction. cmp.df.unipi.it
- A band of the electromagnetic spectrum concerns radiation rather than electron energy levels in a solid. science.nasa.gov
- 15A distinct line produced by techniques such as chromatography or electrophoresis that marks a separated component.
A bright band appeared halfway down the chromatography plate.
Researchers compared the DNA bands to identify the sample.
Similarline
Note
Laboratory separations leave their results as stripes. In chromatography or electrophoresis, each band is a zone where molecules that move alike have collected after being separated from a mixture. Bands are read by their position, and comparing them across samples is how one mixture is matched against another.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Laboratory separation techniques can produce visible bands or stripes. science.anu.edu.au
- A band contains many molecules and can contain different molecular species that migrate together; it need not represent a single pure component. dynamicgenome.ucr.edu
- Band positions provide information used to interpret a separation. askabiologist.asu.edu
- Comparing band patterns across samples is a method of assessing matches. nij.ojp.gov
- 16Short for band government: the local government of a First Nations community in Canada.
The band negotiated a land settlement with the federal government.
The band passed a new housing bylaw at its meeting.
Note
Under the Indian Act, the band government is the basic unit of government, and in ordinary reference it shortens to "the band". In this sense the band acts as an institution: it negotiates settlements, passes bylaws and takes the grammar of a council rather than a crowd.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Bands have governing institutions. cirnac.gc.ca
- Bands participate in negotiating settlements. canada.ca
- Band governments can pass bylaws through their councils. laws.justice.gc.ca
- 17To place students into separate teaching groups according to their perceived ability.
Administrators band students by ability so lessons can match each group.
The district banded incoming freshmen according to their test scores.
UsageOften band students by ability.
Similarstream, set, track, group
Note
A schools' term for sorting pupils, with stream as its synonym. The qualifier "perceived" matters, because the grouping follows a judgment of ability rather than ability itself. The word therefore tends to appear where that judgment is being debated.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The grouping is based on an assessment or perception of pupils' ability. en.wiktionary.org
- 18Two strips of linen hanging from the front of the neck as part of clerical, legal, or academic dress.
The minister's bands were freshly starched for the Sunday service.
The judge wore a black robe with a white band hanging on each side of the collar.
Note
Because they belong to clerical, legal and academic dress, the word carries a ceremonial, professional air that ordinary collars and neckwear do not.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Bands form part of clerical, legal and academic dress. en.wikipedia.org
- 19
- 20A bond or fetter; whatever binds or restrains a person or thing.
Note
The older twin of bond. In Middle English, band and bond were alternative spellings of one word, and here band still carries the meaning bond has kept. Shakespeare's Richard II opens by asking John of Gaunt whether, "according to thy oath and band", he has brought his son.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Band is the older form; Middle English bond was a variant of band. en.wiktionary.org
- Band has an obsolete sense meaning bond. en.wiktionary.org
- Shakespeare wrote Richard II. en.wiktionary.org
- King Richard's opening speech asks John of Gaunt whether he has brought his son and includes the quoted words. folger.edu
- 21A pledge or security offered as a guarantee of good faith or payment.
He sent to her his basenet as a faithfull band.
1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie QueeneNote
Here the word names a pledge or surety, a further turn of the band–bond pairing described under the obsolete "bond" sense. In Book VI (1596) of Spenser's The Faerie Queene, "He sent to her his basenet as a faithfull band": a piece of armor handed over as a token standing for a promise. This sense has dropped out of use, and bond now carries the idea of security.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 7 facts
- Band can mean a pledge or security and is related to bond. en.wiktionary.org
- The poem began publication in 1590. Books IV–VI, including the quoted passage in Book VI, first appeared in 1596. en.wikisource.org
- Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene. en.wikisource.org
- The quoted words occur in the narrator's account in Book VI, Canto I. en.wikisource.org
- The basenet is sent as assurance that the knight will fulfil his promise. en.wikisource.org
- A basenet is a piece of armor: a bascinet. en.wiktionary.org
- A bascinet is a helmet. en.wiktionary.org
- 22Something that serves as a means of union or connection between people; a tie.
For that heroic band—those children of the furnace who, in regions like Texas and Tennessee, maintained their fidelity through terrible trials—we of the North felt for them, and profoundly we honor them.
1866, Herman Melville, Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War - 23In bookbinding, a strip running along the spine to which the pages are fastened.
- 24A molding, or set of moldings, that encircles the pillars and small shafts in Gothic architecture.
- 25Short for band cell: a young white blood cell with a curved nucleus that has no separate lobes.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
Old English beand, bænd or bend ("bond, chain, fetter, band, ribbon") became Middle English band (also bond), and Old French bande later strengthened it. The line goes back to Proto-Germanic *bandą and finally to the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰendʰ- ("to tie, bind"). Bond, bind and bend are related English words, and Dutch and German Band are cognates.
This meaning came into Middle English as band from Old French bande, which took it from Old Occitan banda ("regiment of troops"). That word perhaps comes from Frankish *bend, going back to Proto-Germanic *bandiz and the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰendʰ- ("to tie, bond"). German Bande ("band") is comparable.