1. A poet, often a singing poet who might improvise his work, who was around during ancient and mediaeval times. They would often travel between town and town to recite folk ballads and songs. A famous example of a bard is the blind Greek known as Homer.
1. The bard came to the village to tell tales of times of old and distant lands.
2. Although many people think either (a) "Shakespeare uses too much old english" or (b) "Shakespeare's too intellectual," the Bard's works have remained timeless for over 400 years
Dungeons and Dragons - A bothersome character which annoys the real tanks, such as fighters and barbarians, and serves no real purpose, other than to look stupid and get smashed into the earth by a golem.
Bards are only good as diversions or dragon chow. They are almost always elves or half-elves which is not too surprising due to the fact that 99% of the players of D&D are elves or half-elves.
Fighter/Barbarian: "I saw a half-elf Bard once try to use Charm Monster on a Dragon. He's fertilizer now... I then slew the dragon in less than three rounds."