band

Etymology

From Middle English band (also bond), from Old English beand, bænd, bend (“bond, chain, fetter, band, ribbon, ornament, chaplet, crown”), from Proto-Germanic *bandą, *bandiz (“band, fetter”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to tie, bind”). Middle English band reinforced by Old French bande. Cognate with Dutch band, German Band, Danish bånd, Swedish band, Icelandic band (“band”). Related to bond, bind, bend.

noun

1. A strip of material used for strengthening or coupling.
   1. A strip of material wrapped around things to hold them together.
      The Jones man was looking at her hard. Now he reached into the hatch of his vest and fetched out a couple of cigars, everlasting big ones, with gilt bands on them. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 10, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
   2. A narrow strip of cloth or other material on clothing, to bind, strengthen, or ornament it.
      band and gusset and seam 1843, Thomas Hood, The Song of the Shirt
   3. A strip along the spine of a book where the pages are attached.
   4. A belt or strap that is part of a machine.
2. A long strip of material, color, etc, that is different from the surrounding area.
   sandstone with bands of shale
   … at each station the train times are not shown in one all-embracing chronological list, but in two separate sheets, one with a conspicuous band of yellow detailing westbound departures and the other with a similar band of blue the eastbound trains. 1960 December, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, in Trains Illustrated, page 714
3. (architecture) A strip of decoration.
   1. A continuous tablet, stripe, or series of ornaments, as of carved foliage, of colour, or of brickwork.
   2. In Gothic architecture, the moulding, or suite of mouldings, which encircles the pillars and small shafts.
4. That which serves as the means of union or connection between persons; 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, Supplement
5. A linen collar or ruff worn in the 16th and 17th centuries.
6. (in the plural) Two strips of linen hanging from the neck in front as part of a clerical, legal, or academic dress.
7. (physics) A part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
8. (physics) A group of energy levels in a solid state material.
   valence band;  conduction band
9. (obsolete) A bond.
10. (obsolete) Pledge; security.
11. (especially US) A ring, such as a wedding ring (wedding band), or a ring put on a bird's leg to identify it.
12. (sciences) Any distinguishing line formed by chromatography, electrophoresis etc
13. (medicine) Short for band cell.
14. (slang, hiphop, often in the plural) A wad of money totaling $1K, held together by a band; (by extension) money
    She my trap queen, let her hit the bando / We be countin' up, watch how far them bands go 2014, “Trap Queen”, performed by Fetty Wap

verb

1. (transitive) To fasten with a band.
2. (transitive, ornithology) To fasten an identifying band around the leg of (a bird).