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trainband (TRAIN-band) - (hist.) n., a company of trained civilian militia in England or America from the 16th to the 18th century.
I'm a little iffy on that first number, given the earliest attestation is from the 1620s, but I'll let it pass as the institution so named definitely dates to the previous century. The name is apparently a contraction of trained band, though there's some confusion as to whether trained here means "having received training" or "are in a train" with the rest of the forces-- the former is the more common interpretation. I met this, incidentally, in Cowper's "The Diverting History of John Gilpin."
---L.
I'm a little iffy on that first number, given the earliest attestation is from the 1620s, but I'll let it pass as the institution so named definitely dates to the previous century. The name is apparently a contraction of trained band, though there's some confusion as to whether trained here means "having received training" or "are in a train" with the rest of the forces-- the former is the more common interpretation. I met this, incidentally, in Cowper's "The Diverting History of John Gilpin."
---L.
