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Webster 1913 Edition

Noun.

;

pl.

Trainbands

A band or company of an organized military force instituted by James I. and dissolved by Charles II.; – afterwards applied to the London militia.

[Eng.]

He felt that, without some better protection than that of the

trainbands

and Beefeaters, his palace and person would hardly be secure.

Macaulay.

trainband

captain eke was he
Of famous London town.

Cowper.

trainband ‎(plural trainbands)

(historical) a company of trained civilian militia operating in England and North America between the 16th and the 18th centuries