Also 4–5 bande. [ME. band, bond, a. ON. band neut. (Da. baand, Sw. band) = OS., OFris. band, OHG. bant, pant:—OTeut. *bando-(m), f. band- stem of bind-an to BIND. Not in Gothic, nor in OE., which had only the cogn. bęnd fem.:—OTeut. *bandjâ-: see BEND sb.1, which survived in ME. alongside of band, bond. Band and bond were at first merely phonetic variants (cf. land, lond, stand, stond, man, mon, etc.), but are now largely differentiated in use, bond being usual in branch II, in which band is archaic or obsolete. Cf. BAND1, which in mod. use is treated as identical with this.]
I. literally, That with or by which a person or thing is bound.
1. Anything with which one’s body or limbs are bound, in restraint of personal liberty; a shackle, chain, fetter, manacle. arch.
c. 1200. Ormin, 19821. Herode … band himm wiþþ irrene band.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 7170. Sampson … gaf a braide … þat alle þe bandis of him brast.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., 217. A bande … to bynde his hande.
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utop., 121. These sortes of bondemen they kepe … in bandes.
1590. Marlowe, Edw. II., III. i. Must I fall, and die in bands?
1611. Bible, Acts xvi. 26. The doores were opened, and euery ones bands were loosed.
1833. Tennyson, Poems, 5. To chain with chains, and bind with bands That island queen.
† b. abstr. Confinement, imprisonment, custody.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4437. Þat oþer in prisun war or band. Ibid., 5802. I wil þaim bring vte of his band.
c. 1430. Hymns Virg. (1867), 52. Þat sauede my sone fro bittir bande!
† c. Our Lady’s bands: ‘confinement’ at child-birth, accouchement. Obs. (Cf. BEND.)
1495. Festival, in Strype, Eccl. Mem., I. II. App. xxxvii. 99. Pray … for al women which be in our Ladyes bandes.
2. A string with which any loose thing is bound. a. The tie of straw with which sheaves are bound, a rope of hay used by the hay-binder, and gen. a rope or string of straw, rushes, or similar material.
c. 1325. Metr. Hom., 146. Gaderes the darnel first in bande.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 28. And with his rake and his syckle, taketh vp the barley or otes, and layth them vppon the bande.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., xxxviii. Her arms infold him like a band.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Life in Wilds, iii. 38. She tied the twigs … with bands of rushes.
1864. Atkinson, Whitby Gloss., Band, a rope or string. ‘It is not worth a band’s end.’
b. Book-binding. Name of the cords or straps crossing the back of a book, by attachment to which the quires or sheets are ‘bound’ together.
1759. Boyer, Fr. Dict., A band (for a Book), nerf ficelle cousue au dos d’un Livre.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 40. The bands are pieces of strongish string or cord, which are fastened perpendicularly at fixed distances on a frame rising at the edge of a board, on which the sheets of paper are placed one by one.
3. The hinges of a door or gate; esp. long strips of iron extending across the surface by which it is hung on the crooks.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 19306. Þe prisun dors [he] left als he fand, Noiþer he brak ne barr ne band.
1483. Cath. Angl., 19. Bande of a dure, vertebra.
1565. Richmond. Wills (1853), 178. Iiij iron bandes for a doore.
1571. in Mem. Rip. (1882), I. 309. Lockes, keyes, and bandes of yron.
1864. Atkinson, Whitby Gloss., Bands, ‘a pair o’ bands,’ a couple of hinges.
4. A connecting piece, by which the parts of a complex thing are held firmly together.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1671. First binde wele wiþ balk and bandes.
1483. Cath. Angl., 19. Bande of a howse; lacunar … loramentum.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 3. The sharebeame, the which is the keye and the chiefe bande of all the plough.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., II. ii. 71. Who gently would dissolue the bands of life.
1611. Bible, Col. xi. 19. All the body by ioynts and bands … knit together.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., ii. 14. Clamps, middle bands and sleepers … for binding within.
1881. C. Edwards, Organs, 41. The use of this band is for the insertion of the wind trunk or trunks.
5. A string, strap, or chain, by which a child or animal is held in hand, led, or tied up. lit. and fig.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 14969. A moder ass yee sal þar find, And yee hir sal vn-do vte of hir band.
1413. Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle, V. ix. (1483), 100. As an hound that tyed is with a band.
1690. W. Walker, Idiom. Anglo-Lat., 519. He hath the world in a band.
1738. C. Wesley, Hymn, ‘When to the Temple,’ iii. And lead with Bands of Love.
† 6. Logic. The copula. Obs. rare.
1588. Fraunce, Lawiers Log., II. i. 86 b. An axiome [i.e., proposition] hath two partes, the bande, and the partes bound.
1628. T. Spencer, Logick, 160. A simple Axiome is that, the band whereof is a Verbe.
II. figuratively, A moral, spiritual or legal bond of restraint or union: a BOND.
7. fig. (from 1): The ‘shackles’ of sin or vice, the ‘chains’ of sleep, the ‘fetters’ of formula, etc.
c. 1200. Ormin, 14778. He wollde lesenn hemm ut off þewwdomess bandess.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter lvii. 3. He sent fra heven, lesed me of band.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 3207. Bunden faste With bandes of syn.
1549. Bk. Com. Prayer, 24 Sund. Trin. Delyuered from the bandes of all those sinnes which by our frayltie we haue committed.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XX. 68. The downy bands of sleep.
1881. Daily News, 21 Jan., 4/8. Mr. MILL had what his eminent friends had not, a faculty of loosening himself from the bands of formula by which they were bound.
8. An obligation by which action is checked or restrained, or persons reciprocally bound to each other; a tie, restraint, bond.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 13710. Þis womman þe band [v.r. bond] has broken of hir sposail.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, I. 267. Wedding is the hardest band That ony man may tak on hand.
1591. Spenser, Ruins of Time, Ded. With howe straight bandes of duetie I was tied to him.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., V. iv. 136. To ioyne in Hymens bands.
1725. Pope, Odyss., IX. 563. Thy barb’rous breach of hospitable bands.
1762. Hume, Hist. Eng. (1806), IV. lxv. 774. Few … were attached … by any other band than that of inclination.
1823. Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. xix. (1865), 369. Having worn the nuptial bands … longer than her friend.
1856. Dove, Logic Chr. Faith, V. i. § 2. 293. The immortal bands of obligation to himself.
9. A uniting or cementing force or influence by which a union of any kind is maintained; a pledge. arch.; now BOND.
1483. Cath. Angl., 19. Bande of luffe, fedus, pignus.
1569. J. Rogers, Gl. Godly Love, 186. Children is the very sure band of love.
1625. Bacon, Unity in Relig., Ess. (Arb.), 423. Religion being the chiefe Band of humane Society.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 318. Fear … continued to operate as a band of political union.
10. An agreement, or promise, binding on him who makes it. arch.; now BOND.
a. 1440. Sir Degrev., 957. He hath gyf us by band An c pownd worth of land.
1470. Harding, Chron., cxx. i. False … of his band Whiche to the kynge he made.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 253. How Arthure his aith and band had brokin.
c. 1605. G. Wilkins, Mis. Enf. Marriage, V. in Dodsl. (1780), V. 106. From this your oath and band … you have run.
1752. Carte, Hist. Eng., III. 436. He signed a Band, that … he would bear all concerned in it harmless.
1814. Scott, Ld. of Isles, IV. xiv. To fulfil our father’s band, I proffer’d all I could.
11. Security given; a deed legally executed, binding on him who delivers it. arch.; now BOND.
1521. State Papers Hen. VIII., I. 27. The provision and bande to be made for your indempnitie.
1580. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 229. Enter not into bands, no not for thy best friends.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., III. ii. 157. The end of Life cancells all Bands.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., V. xiii. 409. This property of an honest man, that his word is as good as his band.
1724. A. Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc. (1733), II. 122. There’s meikle good love in bands and bags.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxvi. Deil a wadset, heritable band, or burden.
† b. Security, pledge. Obs.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., VI. i. 31. He sent to her his basenet as a faithfull band.
† 12. A covenant, a league. Sc. Obs.
1452. Earl Douglas in Tytler, Hist. Scot. (1864), II. 387. That I shall make na band na ligg in tyme coming.
1513–75. Diurn. Occurr. (1833), 273. To mak ane band and confideratioun with the Quene of Ingland.
1649. Bp. Guthry, Mem. (1702), 76. A Band found to be amongst a Number of Noblemen, wherein they had combin’d to oppose the Course of those that ruled all.
1873. Burton, Hist. Scot., V. lvii. 178. The ‘band’ for the murder produced by Balfour in a green box.
III. abstractly, Binding quality, or bound state.
† 13. Binding quality or power. Obs.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Countr. Farm, 576. The meale hath not so good a band, neither yet is it altogether so clammie.
a. 1614. Donne, Βιαθανατος (1644), 143. This obligation … is of stronger hold, and of straighter band.
† 14. A state of union or connection. Obs.
1631. Rutherford, Lett., 18 (1862), I. 77. Give them grace … to take band with the fair chief Cornerstone. Ibid., 131. Keep band with the cornerstone.
IV. 15. Comb. Band-stone, a stone that passes through a wall from side to side, and thus binds the structure together, used especially in dry-stone walls in the north.
