rubber band

American  

noun

1. a narrow, circular or oblong band of rubber, used for holding things together, as papers or a box and its lid.

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rubber band British  

noun

1. Also called: elastic band.  a continuous loop of thin rubber, used to hold papers, etc, together

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Usage

What else does rubber band mean? The handy, dandy rubber band, useful for flinging at people and holding together important things, like stacks of cash money, as rubber bands refer to in hip-hop slang. Rubber bands also come up in fashion contexts, from bracelets and hairstyles, and a common complaint for those who have to use special ones for orthodontic braces.

Etymology

Origin of rubber band

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

But sometimes a disturbance can cause the polar vortex to stretch like a rubber band.

From Slate • Feb. 25, 2026

Its price is now over 100% above its 200-day moving average, which means the “proverbial rubber band is extremely stretched,” he said.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 25, 2026

"Think of it like a rubber band being pulled," Judah Cohen, a climate dynamics scientist at MIT, told AFP.

From Barron's • Jan. 22, 2026

Cormorant’s bill is held by rubber band during bath to remove oil after the Santa Barbara oil spill.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 6, 2025

Normally she would have noticed that a few unruly locks of Emma’s hair were already slipping out of her ponytail rubber band and Emma had started absent-mindedly twirling one of them around her finger.

From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix