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bandsman

American  
[bandz-muhn] / ˈbændz mən /

noun

  • bandsmen
    plural
  1. a musician who plays in a band.


bandsman British  
/ ˈbændzmən /

noun

  1. a player in a musical band, esp a brass or military band

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Gender

Is bandsman gender-neutral? See -man.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of bandsman

First recorded in 1835–45; band 1 + 's 1 + -man


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Born Brian Keith Flowers, he got his first taste for music in the Royal Air Force in the 1950s, where he served for nine years as a bandsman playing the tuba.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2024

Like his boy, Ross was himself the only son of an itinerant musician, an orphaned military and later ocean-liner bandsman.

From Slate ● Nov. 6, 2015

The bandsman was working locally as an army recruiter.

From Reuters ● May 24, 2013

In college, he joined the Army Reserve as a bandsman, playing the alto saxophone, and was later called into active duty and sent to Fort Bragg, N.C., where he made the pistol team.

From New York Times ● Jan. 14, 2013

And now, till a bandsman should give a trumpet-signal for tea, all the holiday-makers, both old and young, dispersed themselves among the ruins, and through the wood, and over the rising ground in the rear.

From True to his Colours The Life that Wears Best by D. A. Helm

With the approval of John O’Dowd, Northern Ireland’s Sinn Fein education minister, the Derry bandsmen tour schools in both Protestant and Catholic areas and explain their history.

From Economist ● Aug. 6, 2015

In Gloucester during parliamentary elections in 1857 and 1859 the Tory party agent gave out food and drink to local supporters and lavished funds on Tory voters who acted as messengers, flag-bearers and bandsmen.

From BBC ● Apr. 4, 2015

Last week I watched an astonishing number of bandsmen in bearskin hats and bright red tunics rehearsing for the jubilee celebrations, which culminate next month.

From Newsweek ● May 21, 2012

Dr. Foster became known on campus as the Law, for what could be an intimidating presence, but he began with only 16 bandsmen in 1946.

From New York Times ● Aug. 30, 2010

Some of the bandsmen would come up to the men’s room at about eight o’clock and get shoeshines before they went to work.

From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey

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