Bandle noun [ Ir. bannlamh cubit, from bann a measure + lamh hand, arm.] An Irish measure of two feet in length.

Bandlet noun Same as Bandelet .

Bandmaster noun The conductor of a musical band.

Bandog (băn"dŏg`; 115) noun [ Band + dog , i.e., bound dog.] A mastiff or other large and fierce dog, usually kept chained or tied up.

The keeper entered leading his bandog , a large bloodhound, tied in a leam, or band, from which he takes his name.
Sir W. Scott.

Bandoleer, Bandolier noun [ French bandoulière (cf. Italian bandoliera , Spanish bandolera ), from French bande band, Spanish & Italian banda . See Band , noun ]
1. A broad leather belt formerly worn by soldiers over the right shoulder and across the breast under the left arm. Originally it was used for supporting the musket and twelve cases for charges, but later only as a cartridge belt.

2. One of the leather or wooden cases in which the charges of powder were carried. [ Obsolete]

Bandoline noun [ Perh. allied to band .] A glutinous pomatum for the hair.

Bandon noun [ Old French bandon . See Abandon .] Disposal; control; license. [ Obsolete] Rom. of R.

Bandore (... or ...) noun [ Spanish bandurria , from Latin pandura , pandurium , a musical instrument of three strings, from Greek pandoy^ra . Confer Pandore , Banjo , Mandolin .] A musical stringed instrument, similar in form to a guitar; a pandore.

Bandrol noun Same as Banderole .

Bandy (băn"dȳ) noun [ Telugu bandi .] A carriage or cart used in India, esp. one drawn by bullocks.

Bandy noun ; plural Bandies (-dĭz). [ Confer French bandé , past participle of bander to bind, to bend (a bow), to bandy, from bande . See Band , noun ]
1. A club bent at the lower part for striking a ball at play; a hockey stick. Johnson.

2. The game played with such a club; hockey; shinney; bandy ball.

Bandy transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Bandied (-dĭd); present participle & verbal noun Bandying .]
1. To beat to and fro, as a ball in playing at bandy.

Like tennis balls bandied and struck upon us . . . by rackets from without.
Cudworth.

2. To give and receive reciprocally; to exchange. "To bandy hasty words." Shak.

3. To toss about, as from man to man; to agitate.

Let not obvious and known truth be bandied about in a disputation.
I. Watts.

Bandy intransitive verb To contend, as at some game in which each strives to drive the ball his own way.

Fit to bandy with thy lawless sons.
Shak.

Bandy adjective Bent; crooked; curved laterally, esp. with the convex side outward; as, a bandy leg.

Bandy-legged adjective Having crooked legs.

Bane (bān) noun [ Middle English bane destruction, Anglo-Saxon bana murderer; akin to Icelandic bani death, murderer, Old High German bana murder, bano murderer, Goth. banja stroke, wound, Greek foney`s murderer, fo`nos murder, OIr. bath death, benim I strike. √31.]
1. That which destroys life, esp. poison of a deadly quality. [ Obsolete except in combination, as in rats bane , hen bane , etc.]

2. Destruction; death. [ Obsolete]

The cup of deception spiced and tempered to their bane .
Milton.

3. Any cause of ruin, or lasting injury; harm; woe.

Money, thou bane of bliss, and source of woe.
Herbert.

4. A disease in sheep, commonly termed the rot .

Syn. -- Poison; ruin; destruction; injury; pest.

Bane transitive verb To be the bane of; to ruin. [ Obsolete] Fuller.

Baneberry noun (Botany) A genus (Actæa) of plants, of the order Ranunculaceæ , native in the north temperate zone. The red or white berries are poisonous.

Baneful adjective Having poisonous qualities; deadly; destructive; injurious; noxious; pernicious. " Baneful hemlock." Garth. " Baneful wrath." Chapman.

-- Bane"ful*ly , adverb -- Bane"ful*ness , noun

Banewort noun (Botany) Deadly nightshade.

Bang transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Banged ; present participle & verbal noun Banging .] [ Icelandic banga to hammer; akin to Danish banke to beat, Swedish bångas to be impetuous, German bengel club, clapper of a bell.]
1. To beat, as with a club or cudgel; to treat with violence; to handle roughly.

The desperate tempest hath so banged the Turks.
Shak.

2. To beat or thump, or to cause (something) to hit or strike against another object, in such a way as to make a loud noise; as, to bang a drum or a piano; to bang a door (against the doorpost or casing) in shutting it.

Bang intransitive verb To make a loud noise, as if with a blow or succession of blows; as, the window blind banged and waked me; he was banging on the piano.

Bang noun
1. A blow as with a club; a heavy blow.

Many a stiff thwack, many a bang .
Hudibras.

2. The sound produced by a sudden concussion.

Bang transitive verb To cut squarely across, as the tail of a horse, or the forelock of human beings; to cut (the hair).

His hair banged even with his eyebrows.
The Century Mag.

Bang noun The short, front hair combed down over the forehead, esp. when cut squarely across; a false front of hair similarly worn.

His hair cut in front like a young lady's bang .
W. D. Howells.

Bang, Bangue noun See Bhang .

Banging adjective Huge; great in size. [ Colloq.] Forby.

Bangle (băn"g'l) transitive verb [ From 1st Bang .] To waste by little and little; to fritter away. [ Obsolete]

Bangle noun [ Hind. bangrī bracelet, bangle.] An ornamental circlet, of glass, gold, silver, or other material, worn by women in India and Africa, and in some other countries, upon the wrist or ankle; a ring bracelet.

Bangle ear , a loose hanging ear of a horse, like that of a spaniel.

Banian (băn"y a n or băn*yăn"; 277) noun [ Sanskrit banij merchant. The tree was so named by the English, because used as a market place by the merchants.]
1. A Hindoo trader, merchant, cashier, or money changer. [ Written also banyan .]

2. A man's loose gown, like that worn by the Banians.

3. (Botany) The Indian fig. See Banyan .

Banian days (Nautical) , days in which the sailors have no flesh meat served out to them. This use seems to be borrowed from the Banians or Banya race, who eat no flesh.

Banish (băn"ĭsh) transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Banished (-ĭsht); present participle & verbal noun Banishing .] [ Old French banir , French bannir , Late Latin bannire , from Old High German bannan to summon, from ban ban. See Ban an edict, and Finish , transitive verb ]
1. To condemn to exile, or compel to leave one's country, by authority of the ruling power. "We banish you our territories." Shak.

2. To drive out, as from a home or familiar place; -- used with from and out of .

How the ancient Celtic tongue came to be banished from the Low Countries in Scotland.
Blair.

3. To drive away; to compel to depart; to dispel. " Banish all offense." Shak.

Syn. -- To Banish , Exile , Expel . The idea of a coercive removal from a place is common to these terms. A man is banished when he is forced by the government of a country (be he a foreigner or a native) to leave its borders. A man is exiled when he is driven into banishment from his native country and home. Thus to exile is to banish , but to banish is not always to exile . To expel is to eject or banish summarily or authoritatively, and usually under circumstances of disgrace; as, to expel from a college; expelled from decent society.

Banisher noun One who banishes.

Banishment noun [ Confer French bannissement .] The act of banishing, or the state of being banished.

He secured himself by the banishment of his enemies.
Johnson.

Round the wide world in banishment we roam.
Dryden.

Syn. -- Expatriation; ostracism; expulsion; proscription; exile; outlawry.

Banister noun [ A corruption of baluster .] A baluster; ( plural ) the balustrade of a staircase.

He struggled to ascend the pulpit stairs, holding hard on the banisters . Sir W. Scott.

Banjo noun [ Formerly also banjore and banjer ; corrupted from bandore , through negro slave pronunciation.] A stringed musical instrument having a head and neck like the guitar, and its body like a tambourine. It has five strings, and is played with the fingers and hands.

Banjorine noun [ From banjore banjo. See Banjo .] (Music.) A kind of banjo, with a short neck, tuned a fourth higher than the common banjo; -- popularly so called.

Bank (bănk) noun [ Middle English banke ; akin to English bench , and probably of Scand. origin; confer Icelandic bakki . See Bench .]
1. A mound, pile, or ridge of earth, raised above the surrounding level; hence, anything shaped like a mound or ridge of earth; as, a bank of clouds; a bank of snow.

They cast up a bank against the city.
2 Sam. xx. 15.

2. A steep acclivity, as the slope of a hill, or the side of a ravine.

3. The margin of a watercourse; the rising ground bordering a lake, river, or sea, or forming the edge of a cutting, or other hollow.

Tiber trembled underneath her banks .
Shak.

4. An elevation, or rising ground, under the sea; a shoal, shelf, or shallow; as, the banks of Newfoundland.

5. (Mining) (a) The face of the coal at which miners are working. (b) A deposit of ore or coal, worked by excavations above water level. (c) The ground at the top of a shaft; as, ores are brought to bank .

Bank beaver (Zoology) , the otter. [ Local, U.S.] -- Bank swallow , a small American and European swallow ( Clivicola riparia ) that nests in a hole which it excavates in a bank.

Bank transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Banked (bănkt); present participle & verbal noun Banking .]
1. To raise a mound or dike about; to inclose, defend, or fortify with a bank; to embank. " Banked well with earth." Holland.

2. To heap or pile up; as, to bank sand.

3. To pass by the banks of. [ Obsolete] Shak.

To bank a fire , To bank up a fire , to cover the coals or embers with ashes or cinders, thus keeping the fire low but alive.

Bank noun [ Prob. from French banc . Of German origin, and akin to English bench . See Bench .]
1. A bench, as for rowers in a galley; also, a tier of oars.

Placed on their banks , the lusty Trojan sweep
Neptune's smooth face, and cleave the yielding deep.
Waller.

2. (Law) (a) The bench or seat upon which the judges sit. (b) The regular term of a court of law, or the full court sitting to hear arguments upon questions of law, as distinguished from a sitting at Nisi Prius , or a court held for jury trials. See Banc . Burrill.

3. (Printing) A sort of table used by printers.

4. (Music) A bench, or row of keys belonging to a keyboard, as in an organ. Knight.

Bank noun [ French banque , Italian banca , orig. bench, table, counter, of German origin, and akin to English bench ; confer German bank bench, Old High German banch . See Bench , and confer Banco , Beach .]
1. An establishment for the custody, loan, exchange, or issue, of money, and for facilitating the transmission of funds by drafts or bills of exchange; an institution incorporated for performing one or more of such functions, or the stockholders (or their representatives, the directors), acting in their corporate capacity.

2. The building or office used for banking purposes.

3. A fund from deposits or contributions, to be used in transacting business; a joint stock or capital. [ Obsolete]

Let it be no bank or common stock, but every man be master of his own money.
Bacon.

4. (Gaming) The sum of money or the checks which the dealer or banker has as a fund, from which to draw his stakes and pay his losses.

5. In certain games, as dominos, a fund of pieces from which the players are allowed to draw.

Bank credit , a credit by which a person who has given the required security to a bank has liberty to draw to a certain extent agreed upon. -- Bank of deposit , a bank which receives money for safe keeping. -- Bank of issue , a bank which issues its own notes payable to bearer.

Bank transitive verb To deposit in a bank. Johnson.

Bank intransitive verb
1. To keep a bank; to carry on the business of a banker.

2. To deposit money in a bank; to have an account with a banker.

Bank noun A group or series of objects arranged near together; as, a bank of electric lamps, etc.

Bank noun (Aëronautics) The lateral inclination of an aëroplane as it rounds a curve; as, a bank of 45° is easy; a bank of 90° is dangerous.

Bank intransitive verb (Aëronautics) To tilt sidewise in rounding a curve; -- said of a flying machine, an aërocurve, or the like.

Bank bill
1. In America (and formerly in England), a promissory note of a bank payable to the bearer on demand, and used as currency; a bank note.

2. In England, a note, or a bill of exchange, of a bank, payable to order, and usually at some future specified time. Such bills are negotiable, but form, in the strict sense of the term, no part of the currency.

Bank book A book kept by a depositor, in which an officer of a bank enters the debits and credits of the depositor's account with the bank.

Bank discount A sum equal to the interest at a given rate on the principal (face) of a bill or note from the time of discounting until it becomes due.

Bank note
1. A promissory note issued by a bank or banking company, payable to bearer on demand.

» In the United States popularly called a bank bill .

2. Formerly, a promissory note made by a banker, or banking company, payable to a specified person at a fixed date; a bank bill. See Bank bill , 2. [ Obsolete]

3. A promissory note payable at a bank.

Bank swallow See under 1st Bank , noun