Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Arriere-ban
Ar-riere′-banˊ
,Noun.
[F., fr. OE.
arban
, heriban
, fr. OHG. hariban
, heriban
, G. heerbann
, the calling together of an army; OHG. heri
an army + ban
a public call or order. The French have misunderstood their old word, and have changed it into arrière-ban
, though arrière
has no connection with its proper meaning. See Ban
, Abandon
.] A proclamation, as of the French kings, calling not only their immediate feudatories, but the vassals of these feudatories, to take the field for war; also, the body of vassals called or liable to be called to arms, as in ancient France.