a. A member of a band or company; esp. of a band of musicians. b. (see quot.)
a. 1842. Cunningham, My Native Vale, vi. I … joy’d to see the bandsmen smile.
1864. Even. Standard, 29 Oct. The colours having to be given into the custody of the bandsmen alone.
1884. Weekly Times, 5 Sept., 3/3. Along with them a bandsman from the steamer.
b. 1852. Tomlinson, Encycl., I. 392/2. The next class of miners … are the … bandsmen or bondsmen, from the circumstance of their working in connection with the band or flat rope by which the coal, etc. is hoisted.
