BAND, something which "binds" or fastens one thing to an other, hence a cord, rope or tie, e.g., the straps fastening the sheets to the back in book-binding. The word is a variant of "bond," and is from the stem of the Teutonic bindan, to bind. From the same source comes "bend," properly to fasten the string to the bow, so as to con strain and curve it, hence to make into the shape of a "bent" bow, to curve. In the sense of "strap," a flat strip of material, properly for fastening anything, the word is ultimately of the same origin but comes directly into English from the French bande. In architecture the term is applied to a sort of flat frieze or fascia running horizontally round a tower or other parts of a building. When a band is used horizontally to subdivide the out side face of a building, it is known as a band or string course.
The two small strips of linen, worn at the neck as part of legal, clerical and academic dress, are known as "bands"; they are the survival of the falling collar of the 17th century. These bands are usually of white linen, but the secular clergy of the Roman Church wear black bands edged with white. The light cardboard boxes now used to carry millinery were formerly made to carry the neckbands, whence the name of "band-box.." In the sense of company or troop, "band" is probably also connected with bindan, to bind. It came into English from the French. The meaning seems to have originated in Romanic, cf.
Italian, Spanish and Portuguese banda, and thence came into Teutonic. It has been taken (see Ducange, Gloss. s.v. banda) to be due to the "band" or sash of a particular colour worn as a distinctive mark by a troop of soldiers. Others refer it to the mediaeval Latin bandum, banner, a strip or "band" of cloth fastened to a pole.
Military bands constitute an essential feature of all armies, each regiment having its own as a rule. The training of band masters for the British service is carried out at Kneller Hall, Hounslow, an institution founded in 1857 and placed under direct control of the war office in 1867. The instruments composing an average British military band number nowadays 30 or more, including piccolo, flutes, clarinets, oboes, bassoons, saxophones, horns, cornets, trumpets, trombones, euphoniums and drums. Of Scottish regiments the peculiar instrument is the bagpipes. Cavalry and artillery corps in the various armies have small bands. In the navies of various countries bands are maintained on board flag-ships and sometimes on board other large ships.