Bank /(băṉk)/
Bank
n.
-
A mound, pile, or ridge of earth, raised above the surrounding level; hence, anything shaped like a mound or ridge of earth; as, a bank of clouds; a bank of snow.
They cast up a bank against the city.
- A steep acclivity, as the slope of a hill, or the side of a ravine.
-
The margin of a watercourse; the rising ground bordering a lake, river, or sea, or forming the edge of a cutting, or other hollow.
Tiber trembled underneath her banks.
- An elevation, or rising ground, under the sea; a shoal, shelf, or shallow; as, the banks of Newfoundland.
- The face of the coal at which miners are working. (Mining)
- The lateral inclination of an aëroplane as it rounds a curve; as, a bank of 45° is easy; a bank of 90° is dangerous. (Aëronautics)
- A group or series of objects arranged near together; as, a bank of electric lamps, etc.
- The tilt of a roadway or railroad, at a curve in the road, designed to counteract centrifugal forces acting on vehicles moving rapiudly around the curve, thus reducing the danger of overturning during a turn.
Phrases & Compounds
- Bank beaver
- the otter.
- Bank swallow
- a small American and European swallow (Clivicola riparia) that nests in a hole which it excavates in a bank.
Bank
v. t.
imp. & p. p. Banked; p. pr. & vb. n. Banking
- To raise a mound or dike about; to inclose, defend, or fortify with a bank; to embank.
- To heap or pile up; as, to bank sand.
- To pass by the banks of. [Obs.]
- To build (a roadway or railroad) with an inclination at a curve in the road, so as to counteract centrifugal forces acting on vehicles moving rapiudly around the curve, thus reducing the danger of vehicles overturning at a curve; as, the raceway was steeply banked at the curves. (Engineering)
Phrases & Compounds
- To bank a fire
- to cover the coals or embers with ashes or cinders, thus keeping the fire low but alive.
Bank
n.
-
A bench, as for rowers in a galley; also, a tier of oars.
Placed on their banks, the lusty Trojan sweep Neptune's smooth face, and cleave the yielding deep.
- The bench or seat upon which the judges sit. (Law)
- A sort of table used by printers. (Printing)
- A bench, or row of keys belonging to a keyboard, as in an organ. (Music)
Bank
n.
- An establishment for the custody, loan, exchange, or issue, of money, and for facilitating the transmission of funds by drafts or bills of exchange; an institution incorporated for performing one or more of such functions, or the stockholders (or their representatives, the directors), acting in their corporate capacity.
- The building or office used for banking purposes.
-
A fund to be used in transacting business, especially a joint stock or capital.
Let it be no bank or common stock, but every man be master of his own money.
- The sum of money or the checks which the dealer or banker has as a fund, from which to draw his stakes and pay his losses. (Gaming)
- In certain games, as dominos, a fund of pieces from which the players are allowed to draw; in Monopoly, the fund of money used to pay bonuses due to the players, or to which they pay fines.
- a place where something is stored and held available for future use;
Phrases & Compounds
- Bank credit
- a credit by which a person who has given the required security to a bank has liberty to draw to a certain extent agreed upon.
- Bank of deposit
- a bank which receives money for safe keeping.
- Bank of issue
- a bank which issues its own notes payable to bearer.
Bank
v. t.
- To deposit in a bank.
Bank
v. i.
- To keep a bank; to carry on the business of a banker.
- To deposit money in a bank; to have an account with a banker.
Bank
v. i.
- To tilt sidewise in rounding a curve; -- said of a flying machine, an aërocurve, or the like. (Aëronautics)