Dictionary

backband en · NOUN

Etymology

From back + band.

Meanings

1. (historical) A strap that passes over the back of a horse, used to hold up the shafts of a carriage.
   • The first "Troy" coach put on the road came in 1829. It was a great novelty, but some hundreds of them were soon throwing the dust of Maryland and Pennsylvania into the air. Their cost then was between four and six hundred dollars. The harness used on the road was of giant proportions. The backbands were often fifteen inches wide, and the hip bands, ten. The traces were chains with short thick links and very heavy. 1904, Archer Butler Hulbert, “Volume 10, Chapter 4, STAGECOACHES AND FREIGHTERS”, in Historic Highways of America/Volume 10/Chapter 4:

Forms