disband
/dɪsˈbænd/ verb
Forms disbands disbanding disbanded
- verb (ambitransitive) To break up or (cause to) cease to exist; to disperse. “The president wanted to disband the scandal-plagued agency.”
- verb (transitive, obsolete) To loose the bands of; to set free.
- verb (transitive, obsolete) To divorce.
Synonyms
Etymology
Attested since the 1590s, from Middle French desbander (Modern French débander), from des- (English dis-) + bande (English band), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to tie”). By surface analysis, dis- + band.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To loose the bands of; to set free; to disunite; to scatter; to disperse; to break up the organization of; especially, to dismiss from military service; as, to disband an army.
- verb To divorce. [Obs.]
- verb To become separated, broken up, dissolved, or scattered; especially, to quit military service by breaking up organization.
Etymology [Pref. dis- + band: cf. OF. desbander, F. débander, to unbind, unbend. See Band, and cf. Disbend, Disbind.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “disband”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details