0 a thief with a weapon, especially one belonging to a group that attacks people travelling through the countryside
1 an armed thief, esp. (in older use) one who attacks people while they are traveling:
A train traveling through the West was held up by masked bandits.
At the wedding-feast she learns that he is a mere bandit, leader of a band of robbers that infests the country.
He called to the rest of the bandits and gave crisp instructions.
Holes were cut in the masks through which the bandits could see.
The hero is a bandit and an outlaw, and he is doomed to failure because of the superior power of organised society arrayed against him.
