Word.ws English Dictionary

red band

red band noun: a trusty; a trusted prisoner given special privileges.

Noun

red band (plural red bands)

  1. (UK) A trusty; a trusted prisoner given special privileges.
    • It was an extension of the American Trusty system, as was the appointment of other selected prisoners to be 'Red Bands'.1967, Harley Cronin, The Screw Turns, page 51
    • A red band was a trusty prisoner who could go anywhere in the prison. His job was taking mail to the main office and delivering any other messages for the screws or staff. Red bands had a bad name amongst the rest of the prisoners.2012, Charlie Seiga, Killer, page 75

Adjective

red band (not comparable)

  1. (US) R-rated

Forms of red band

pluralred bands

Origin of red band

From the red bands worn on their arms.

From the red color of the horizontal bar on the cinematic rating screen at the start of the show.

Words formed from red band

  • red band trailer
  • red band teaser
  • red band release

Questions about red band

What does red band mean?
Red band means a trusty; a trusted prisoner given special privileges.
What part of speech is red band?
Red band can be a noun or an adjective.
What is the plural of red band?
The plural of red band is red bands.

Words near red band in the dictionary

  1. red bags
  2. red ball
  3. red balls
  4. red banana
  5. red bananas
  6. red band
  7. red bandfish
  8. red bands
  9. red baneberry
  10. Red Bank
  11. red banner

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: red band (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.

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Cite this entry: “red band.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/red_band. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.