Noun

(en noun)

A strip of material used for strengthening or coupling.

# A strip of material wrapped around things to hold them together.

#* , chapter=10

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=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.}}

# A narrow strip of cloth or other material on clothing, to bind, strengthen, or ornament it.

#* 1843 , (Thomas Hood), (The Song of the Shirt)

band and gusset and seam

# A strip along the spine of a book where the pages are attached.

# A belt or strap that is part of a machine.

(label) A strip of decoration.

# A continuous tablet, stripe, or series of ornaments, as of carved foliage, of colour, or of brickwork.

# In Gothic architecture, the moulding, or suite of mouldings, which encircles the pillars and small shafts.

That which serves as the means of union or connection between persons; a tie.

* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

to join in Hymen's bands

A linen collar or ruff worn in the 16th and 17th centuries.

(label) Two strips of linen hanging from the neck in front as part of a clerical, legal, or academic dress.

(label) A part of the radio spectrum.

(label) A group of energy levels in a solid state material.

(obsolete) A bond.

* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

thy oath and band

(label) Pledge; security.

(Spenser)

A ring, such as a wedding ring (wedding band), or a ring put on a bird's leg to identify it.

Noun

(en noun)

A group of musicians, especially (a) wind and percussion players, or (b) rock musicians.

A type of orchestra originally playing janissary music; i.e. marching band.

A group of people loosely united for a common purpose (a band of thieves).

* 1900 , L. Frank Baum , The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Chapter 23

"My third command to the Winged Monkeys," said Glinda, "shall be to carry you to your forest. Then, having used up the powers of the Golden Cap, I shall give it to the King of the Monkeys, that he and his band may thereafter be free for evermore."

(anthropology) A small group of people living in a simple society.

* 1883 , (Howard Pyle), (The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood)

But in the meantime Robin Hood and his band lived quietly in Sherwood Forest, without showing their faces abroad, for Robin knew that it would not be wise for him to be seen in the neighborhood of Nottingham, those in authority being very wroth with him.

(Canada) A group of aboriginals that has official recognition as an organized unit by the federal government of Canada.

Noun

(en noun)

An inclination or talent.

He had a natural bent for painting.

A predisposition to act or react in a particular way.

His mind was of a technical bent .

The state of being curved, crooked, or inclined from a straight line; flexure; curvity.

the bent of a bow

(Wilkins)

A declivity or slope, as of a hill.

(Dryden)

Particular direction or tendency; flexion; course.

* John Locke

bents and turns of the matter

(carpentry) A transverse frame of a framed structure.

Tension; force of acting; energy; impetus.

* Norris

the full bent and stress of the soul

Noun

(en noun)

Any of various stiff or reedy grasses.

* Drayton

His spear a bent , both stiff and strong.

* 1888 , Rudyard Kipling, ‘The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes’, The Phantom ’Rickshaw and Other Tales , Folio Society 2005, p. 121:

Gunga Dass gave me a double handful of dried bents which I thrust down the mouth of the lair to the right of his, and followed myself, feet foremost [...].

* 1913 ,

Clusters of strong flowers rose everywhere above the coarse tussocks of bent .

A grassy area, grassland.

* The Ballad of Chevy Chase

Bowmen bickered upon the bent .

English irregular past participles English irregular simple past forms ----