brass band

American  

noun

Music.

1. a band made up principally of brass wind instruments.

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brass band British  

noun

1. See band 1

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brass band Cultural  

1. 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.

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Etymology

Origin of brass band

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

brass band

A brass band performed in Brooklyn’s Park Slope.

From Salon ● Jun. 17, 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

A New Orleans-style brass band, a gator-shaped eight-foot-long white sourdough bread, drag queen story time and even a street officially bearing his name, Claude the Alligator Way, the memorial was one of its kind.

From BBC ● Jan. 19, 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

The brass band, playing “Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean,” marched and slammed back into town, and everyone took the day off.

From "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury