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to prohibit, forbid, or bar; interdict:
to ban nuclear weapons; The dictator banned all newspapers and books that criticized his regime.
Archaic.

to pronounce an ecclesiastical curse upon.
to curse; execrate.

the act of prohibiting by law; interdiction.
informal denunciation or prohibition, as by public opinion:
society’s ban on racial discrimination.
Law.

a proclamation.
a public condemnation.

Ecclesiastical. a formal condemnation; excommunication.
a malediction; curse.
a public proclamation or edict.
bans, Ecclesiastical, banns.

the summoning of the sovereign’s vassals for military service.
the body of vassals summoned.

(formerly) the governor of Croatia and Slavonia.
History/Historical. a provincial governor of the southern marches of Hungary.
a Romanian coin, the 100th part of a leu.
Contemporary Examples

Turks have simply circumvented the ban and intensified their attacks on his government.
Turkey’s Useless Twitter Ban Thomas Seibert March 20, 2014

Job growth will not be addressed by removing a ban that protects the welfare and dignity of a population of people.
Dwarf Tossing Should Be Illegal Bill Klein October 22, 2011

In April, the new democratically elected South Korean President, Lee Myung Bak lifted a ban on imported American beef.
The Internet Is Bad For You Andrew Keen December 18, 2008

Kerry met with Brahimi, U.N. Secretary General ban Ki-moon, and Russian Foreign Sergei Lavrov Friday night in Munich.
UN’s Brahimi: Round One of Syria Peace Talks Failed Josh Rogin January 31, 2014

It’s easy to protect speech that no one wants to ban, and it’s easy to support people who agree with us.
Why Does Everyone Hate Women? Megan McArdle October 23, 2012

Historical Examples

Friday was sitting in a chair close by the bound Eurasian; ban Wilson, more restless, was pacing up and down.
The Passing of Ku Sui Anthony Gilmore

How could he exist with the knowledge that he was under the ban of the gods?
The Cat of Bubastes G. A. Henty

From this time on Spinoza was more or less under the ban, and rumors of his heresy were rife.
Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great Philosophers, Volume 8 Elbert Hubbard

Helena de’ Franchi gave the news of the ban to Giuseppe de’ Franchi.
Dreamers of the Ghetto I. Zangwill

And with a ban soir this sudden arbiter of my destiny vanished.
The Worlds Greatest Books Arthur Mee, J. A. Hammerton, Eds.

verb bans, banning, banned
(transitive) to prohibit, esp officially, from action, display, entrance, sale, etc; forbid: to ban a book, to ban smoking
(transitive) (formerly in South Africa) to place (a person suspected of illegal political activity) under a government order restricting his movement and his contact with other people
(archaic) to curse
noun
an official prohibition or interdiction
(law) an official proclamation or public notice, esp of prohibition
a public proclamation or edict, esp of outlawry
(archaic) public censure or condemnation
(archaic) a curse; imprecation
noun
(in feudal England) the summoning of vassals to perform their military obligations
noun (pl) bani (ˈbɑːnɪ)
a monetary unit of Romania and Moldova worth one hundredth of a leu
v.

Old English bannan “to summon, command, proclaim,” from Proto-Germanic *bannan “proclaim, command, forbid” (cf. Old High German bannan “to command or forbid under threat of punishment,” German bannen “banish, expel, curse”), originally “to speak publicly,” from PIE root *bha- (2) “to speak” (cf. Old Irish bann “law,” Armenian ban “word;” see fame (n.)).

Main modern sense of “to prohibit” (late 14c.) is from Old Norse cognate banna “to curse, prohibit,” and probably in part from Old French ban, which meant “outlawry, banishment,” among other things (see banal) and was a borrowing from Germanic. The sense evolution in Germanic was from “speak” to “proclaim a threat” to (in Norse, German, etc.) “curse.”

The Germanic root, borrowed in Latin and French, has been productive, e.g. banish, bandit, contraband, etc. Related: Banned; banning. Banned in Boston dates from 1920s, in allusion to the excessive zeal and power of that city’s Watch and Ward Society.
n.

“edict of prohibition,” c.1300, “proclamation or edict of an overlord,” from Old English (ge)bann “proclamation, summons, command” and Old French ban, both from Germanic; see ban (v.).

“governor of Croatia,” from Serbo-Croatian ban “lord, master, ruler,” from Persian ban “prince, lord, chief, governor,” related to Sanskrit pati “guards, protects.” Hence banat “district governed by a ban,” with Latinate suffix -atus. The Persian word got into Slavic perhaps via the Avars.