Definition of "trainband" []

• A company of trained militia in England or America from the 16th to the 18th century. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "And he proceeded to write some sentences, which he handed in to the clerk, who read out in his calm voice: "John Gilpin was a citizen of credit and renown; a trainband captain eke was he of famous London town.""
• "At noon of May 31, 1689, Leisler summoned the citizens to arms by beat of drum, mustering his own trainband before his house."
• "In Weaver v. Ward,/1/the defendant set up that the plaintiff and he were skirmishing in a trainband, and that when discharging his piece he wounded the plaintiff by accident and misfortune, and against his own will."