bans

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of ban.

   The new bans on single-use plastics affected restaurants across the country.

   Courts overturned several bans that violated free speech protections.

   Note

   One spelling does three jobs here: this plural noun, the present-tense verb, and an old spelling of banns. As a noun it usually counts prohibitions, and the thing forbidden follows on: bans on single-use plastics, smoking bans. The older meanings of ban, such as a public proclamation, an edict or a curse, form their plural the same way, so context tells you which sense is in play.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of ban.

   The new policy bans all personal vehicles from the city center on weekends.

   The league bans any athlete who fails a drug test.

   Note

   The present-tense verb takes a direct object: a policy bans vehicles, and a league bans an athlete. It often adds from to name the place or activity someone is shut out of. Its everyday meaning is to prohibit or block. The older meanings, to curse or to pronounce an ecclesiastical curse, survive mainly in historical writing.

3. 3
   nounarchaic

   Archaic spelling of banns.

   The curate published the bans of marriage on three successive Sundays.

   No one rose to object when the bans were called in the village church.

   Note

   Older texts often spell the marriage announcement with one n. That makes it look like an ordinary plural of ban, and the meanings are close, because ban could mean a public proclamation. In modern writing use banns, which is always plural. The usual verbs are publish and call: the banns are published, or called, in church before the wedding. Keep bans for quoting or imitating older prose.

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