brass band

American

noun

Music.

a band made up principally of brass wind instruments.

brass band British

noun

See band 1

"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

brass band Cultural

A musical group composed of brass and percussion instruments. Sometimes called marching bands, brass bands often play at athletic events and military exercises and in parades.

Etymology

Origin of brass band

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

brass band

A brass band performed in Brooklyn’s Park Slope.

From Salon ● Jun. 17, 2026

Immediately after the speech, cannons fired successive rounds before music was played by a military brass band.

From BBC ● May 9, 2026

Mobile being the site of America’s first Mardi Gras celebration in 1703, a brass band led a second line march.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026

The audience rose as a brass band began to play upon the arrival of the royal family, who sat in their box in the famous concert hall.

From Barron's ● Nov. 8, 2025

Spying the Navy Yard brass band taking shelter under the White House eaves, he calls out a request: “I always thought that ‘Dixie’ was one of the best tunes I ever heard.

From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023