bandy
/ˈbændi/
bandy verb: to give and receive reciprocally; to exchange.
Verb
bandy (third-person singular simple present bandies, present participle bandying, simple past and past participle bandied)
- To give and receive reciprocally; to exchange.
- to bandy words (with somebody)
- Incapable of hearing reproach or bandying invective, her husband had sunk into the indolence of pensive resignation, and, sensible that things had gone too far for effectual retrieve, tried to find a lenitive in the love of his sister, and the often disappointed hope of a son, during whose long...1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXIX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 76
- To use or pass about casually.
- to have one's name bandied about (or around)
- Let not obvious and known Truths, or some of the most plain and certain Propositions be bandy’d about in a Disputation, for a meer Trial of Skill […]1741, I[saac] Watts, chapter 13, in The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: […], London: […] James Brackstone, […], →OCLC, paragraph XX, page 187
- To throw or strike reciprocally, like balls in sports.
- Do you bandy looks with me, you rascal?c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- For as whipp'd tops and bandied balls, / The learned hold, are animals; / So horses they affirm to be / Mere engines made by geometry […]1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto II.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678...
- To fight (with or against someone).
- Brother displaie my ensignes in the field,
Ile bandie with the Barons and the Earles,
And eyther die, or liue with Gaueston.1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC... - Tybalt, Mercutio, the prince expressly hath
Forbidden bandying in Verona streets:c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- Brother displaie my ensignes in the field,
Adjective
bandy (comparative bandier, superlative bandiest)
- Bow-legged, having knees bending outward.
- Then the Parson might preach, and drink, and sing, / And we’d be as happy as birds in the spring; / And modest Dame Lurch, who is always at church, / Would not have bandy children, nor fasting, nor birch.1794, William Blake, The Little Vagabond, third stanza
- A black servant, who reposed on the box beside the fat coachman, uncurled his bandy legs as soon as the equipage drew up opposite Miss Pinkerton's shining brass plate, and as he pulled the bell at least a score of young heads were seen peering out of the narrow windows of the stately old brick...1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 1, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC
Noun (1)
bandy (countable and uncountable, plural bandies)
- A winter sport played on ice, from which ice hockey developed.
- A club bent at the lower part for striking a ball at play; a hockey stick.
Noun (2)
bandy (plural bandies)
Proper noun capitalized: Bandy
Bandy (plural Bandys)
- A surname.
bandy meaning in Kannada
bandy in Kannada
- ಕೊಡುಕೊಳ್ಳು
Forms of bandy
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | bandies |
| present participle | bandying |
| past participle | bandied |
| past | bandied |
| alternative form | bandie |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | bandier |
| superlative | bandiest |
| Noun | |
| plural | bandies |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Bandys |
Origin of bandy
From French bander (“to bandy at tennis”), with -y, -ie added due to influence from Spanish and Portuguese bandear and/or Old Occitan bandir (“to throw”), from the same root as English band. Compare also with banter.
Borrowed from Scots bandy.
Probably from the verb bandy in the sense "toss/bat back and forth", or possibly from the Welsh word bando, most likely derived from the Proto-Germanic *bandją (“a curved stick”).
Words formed from bandy
Words that rhyme with bandy
5 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about bandy
- What does bandy mean?
- Bandy means to give and receive reciprocally; to exchange.
- What is bandy in Kannada?
- Bandy in Kannada is ಕೊಡುಕೊಳ್ಳು. See Bandy meaning in Kannada.
- What part of speech is bandy?
- Bandy can be a verb, an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce bandy?
- Bandy is pronounced /ˈbændi/.
- What is the past tense of bandy?
- The past tense of bandy is bandied.
Words near bandy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bandy (page history and authors); Bandy (page history and authors); bandy (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-bandy.wav.
Cite this entry: “bandy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bandy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.