bandy

American  

[ban-dee] / ˈbæn di /

verb (used with object)

• bandies,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bandied,
  past participle,  past
• bandying
  present participle

1. to pass from one to another or back and forth; give and take; trade; exchange.

   to bandy blows; to bandy words.

   Synonyms:

   barter, swap, interchange, reciprocate

2. to throw or strike to and fro or from side to side, as a ball in tennis.

3. to circulate freely.

   to bandy gossip.

---

adjective

1. (of legs) having a bend or crook outward; bowed.

   a new method for correcting bandy legs.

noun

• bandies
  plural

1. an early form of tennis.

2. Chiefly British. (formerly) hockey or shinny.

3. Obsolete. a hockey or shinny stick.

bandy British  

/ ˈbændɪ /

adjective

1. Also: bandy-legged.  having legs curved outwards at the knees

2. (of legs) curved outwards at the knees

3. informal to amaze or astound

---

verb

1. to exchange (words) in a heated or hostile manner

2. to give and receive (blows)

3. (often foll by about) to circulate (a name, rumour, etc)

4. to throw or strike to and fro; toss about

noun

1. an early form of hockey, often played on ice

2. a stick, curved at one end, used in the game of bandy

3. an old form of tennis

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• bandiness
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• bandies
  plural

Participles

• bandying
  present
• bandied
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• bandy
  simple
• bandies
  simple
• have bandied
  perfect
• has bandied
  perfect
• am bandying
  progressive
• are bandying
  progressive
• is bandying
  progressive
• have been bandying
  perfect progressive
• has been bandying
  perfect progressive

Past

• bandied
  simple
• had bandied
  perfect
• was bandying
  progressive
• were bandying
  progressive
• had been bandying
  perfect progressive

Future

• will bandy
  simple
• will have bandied
  perfect
• will be bandying
  progressive
• will have been bandying
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of bandy

1570–80; perhaps < Spanish bandear to conduct, bandy, originally help, serve as member of a band of men. See band ¹

Explanation

Bandy is a verb that means to toss many ideas around without focusing on just one. If you've ever brainstormed, you know what this is like — you bandy about different ideas until you find one that works. Bandy also means to exchange blows, like in a professional fight. As a skilled heavyweight boxer, you are known to bandy with your opponent for several minutes before you knock him out. Bandy comes from the Middle French word bander which means "to strike back and forth." These days it's also used as a more general term to describe tossing or hitting any ball back and forth.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bandy bandies bandied bandying

"People bandy about those terms all the time, and it's ridiculous," he told the LA Times in May.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2025

I’m staggered at the stupidity of people who bandy around dangerous words without having looked them up in the dictionary.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2024

"He wouldn't just bandy words about. It was on the inside, it was like a core inside him," she said.

From Reuters ● Nov. 25, 2023

I realize that’s an overblown term that the media likes to bandy about as if it had some sort of cosmic significance.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 3, 2022

He glowered at the chaplain with swollen fury for a moment, his good humor gone, and turned back toward the bar disgruntledly, rolling from side to side like a sailor on his short bandy legs.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

The script bandies about all three options, concluding that he’s closest to a chosen curse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

Aukerman, now with a much brasher energy, starts needling Mantzoukas, who bandies jokes back across the net.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2024

It seems just like the kind of slightly surreal utterance Singh often bandies around in interviews, but Cornershop's rather wonderful new album literalises this simile.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 17, 2011

This year the subdued bandies did march into the bowl singing "To hell with Yale" to the tune of O Tannenbaum, but that was all.

From Time Magazine Archive

Sometimes, alas! the calmest man is carried away in the torrent, bandies adjectives with the best, and out-Herods Herod for some shameful moments.

From Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers by Robert Louis Stevenson

Many of the same well-known faces have been bandied about for months, if not years.

From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026

In this case, league officials have bandied about several ideas to create more extra-base hits.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026

Many people would be offended by having this fact bandied about—especially when the Coke-can commentary is part of a larger discussion of the serious problems Haley tied to the size statement.

From Slate ● Jan. 15, 2026

Sir George is frequently bandied about as the so-called fifth Beatle.

From Salon ● Jan. 15, 2026

My own mind was spinning from the ideas we had bandied back and forth so rapidly.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

It’s a spirit that is certainly related to, yet distinctly different from, the bawdy bandying that unfolds in Pasadena.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2022

Journalists began bandying around the R-word this summer, after the Federal Reserve reported that industrial production had contracted for two straight quarters.

From Slate ● Oct. 5, 2019

The comedy, while unflinchingly honest and prone to bandying about such terms as “intracytoplasmic sperm injection” and “follitropin,” is never really about technology, though.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 3, 2018

Because it boomerangs back on the people who are bandying these terms about.

From Salon ● Nov. 15, 2015

In the centre of the plaza Caybigan, in his graceful, elastic pose, half-confident, half-wild, was bandying with three of the blue-shirted soldiers.

From Caybigan by James Hopper