bandy

Formsbandier, bandiest

Formsbandies, bandying, bandied

Pluralbandies (some meanings)

1. 1
   adjective

   Having the legs curved outward at the knees, so the feet meet while the knees stay apart.

   The legs curve apart like the two sides of a barrel.

   Years in the saddle had left the rancher noticeably bandy.

   The puppy's bandy front legs are normal for the breed.

   Similarbowlegged

   Oppositeknock-kneed

   Note

   An adjective with a separate history: it comes from Scots, not from the tennis verb, so the two share only a spelling. It pairs naturally with legs, as in Thackeray's Vanity Fair, but it can also describe a whole person after a verb. Alan Hollinghurst's old man is "squat and bandy." Blake's "bandy children" places it before a noun, and it compares as bandier, bandiest.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To pass a word, name, or idea about casually, often without proper care.

   Critics bandy the word 'genius' so freely that it has lost its force.

   He bandied figures about the meeting as though he understood them.

   Similartoss, throw, circulate

   Note

   Careless circulation is the point here, and the verb usually brings a particle with it: a name is bandied about or around, technical terms are bandied to and fro. The passive is common, since the speaker is often describing what others do with a word. Isaac Watts warns against plain truths being bandied about in a dispute merely as a trial of skill, and the hint of disapproval has stayed.

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To give and receive in return; to trade something back and forth between two sides.

   The diplomats bandy concessions, each granting a little to gain a little.

   Old friends bandied stories across the table late into the night.

   Similarexchange, trade, swap

   Note

   The exchange sense still carries the game the word came from: French bander meant to bandy at tennis, and English kept the image of something struck back and forth between two sides. Its fixed partner is words. To bandy words with somebody is to trade sharp remarks in quick returns, and it suits hostile exchanges generally, as in bandying invective. Banter is a word worth comparing.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To throw or strike a ball back and forth, as players do in a game.

   The players bandy the ball between them with short, quick strikes.

   On the frozen pond they bandied a small ball with curved sticks.

   Similarpass, knock, toss, bat

   Note

   The literal ball, struck to and fro, sits under the tennis origin behind the exchanging meaning. Writers turned it on other things early. Shakespeare's Lear demands, "Do you bandy looks with me?", and Ralph Cudworth in 1678 pictures thoughts "like Tennis Balls, Bandied" by rackets from without. The name of the ice sport probably comes from this sense.

5. 5
   noununcountable

   A winter team sport played on ice with curved sticks and a ball, from which ice hockey developed.

   In Sweden, bandy draws large crowds during the coldest months.

   She switched from bandy to ice hockey in her teens.

   Note

   A sport whose name probably comes from the verb for tossing or batting back and forth. The other candidate is the Welsh bando, most likely from a Germanic word for a curved stick. The game is uncountable: you play bandy, not a bandy. Its countable namesake is the curved club the players carry, and the game itself is the ancestor of ice hockey.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A club bent at the lower end, used for striking a ball in play; a hockey stick.

   The old bandy had a worn, curved blade from years of use.

   The players' bandies clashed as they fought for the ball.

   Similarstick

   Note

   The stick shares the game's name, but unlike the game it is countable: one bandy, two bandies, with the same -ies spelling as the verb's bandies. What makes it a bandy is the bend at the lower end for striking the ball. In general use the same object is simply a hockey stick, and the name bandy stays close to the ice sport.

7. 7
   nouncountable

   In India, a wheeled cart or carriage, most often one hauled by bullocks.

   The merchant hired a bandy to carry his goods to the next town.

   Two white bullocks pulled the bandy along the riverbank.

   Similarcart, carriage

   Note

   A borrowing from Telugu baṇḍi, this word has no tie to the others spelled the same way. It is unrelated to the tennis verb, the Scots adjective and the ice game. In English it names the Indian vehicle specifically, typically one pulled by bullocks. It is the word for that cart in Indian settings, not a general synonym for any cart.

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