1. a metal band around the bale of cotton. 2. A strip or stripe that contrasts with something else in color, texture, or material. 3. A narrow strip of fabric used to trim, finish, or reinforce articles of clothing. 4. the bands of marriage and family. 5. A simple ungrooved ring, especially a wedding ring. 6. A neckband or collar. 7. The two strips hanging from the front of a collar as part of the dress of certain clerics, scholars, and lawyers. 8. A high collar popular in the 16th and 17th centuries. 9. A chromatically, structurally, or functionally differentiated strip or stripe in or on an organism. 10. A cordlike tissue that connects or holds structures together. 11. A specific range of wavelengths or frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. 12. A range of very closely spaced electron energy levels in solids, the distribution and nature of which determine the electrical properties of a material. 13. Any of the distinct grooves on a long-playing phonograph record that contains an individual selection or a separate section of a whole. 14. Circular tracks on a storage device such as a disk. 15. The cords across the back of a book to which the sheets or quires are attached. 16. To tie, bind, or encircle with or as if with a band. 17. a program to band migrating birds.
