Bank

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bæŋk/
• Tasmanian IPA: /bɔŋk/
• Rhymes: -æŋk

Alternative forms

• banck, bancke, banke all obsolete

From Middle English banke, from Middle French banque, from Old Italian banca ("counter, moneychanger's bench or table"), from Lombardic bank ("bench, counter"), from Proto-Germanic *bankiz ("bench, counter"), from Proto-Indo-European *bheg- ("to turn, curve, bend, bow"). Cognate with Old High German banc, banch ("counter, bench"), Old English benc ("bench"). More at bench.

Full definition of bank

Noun

1. An institution where one can place and borrow money and take care of financial affairs.
• 2013-06-01, End of the peer show, Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms....Banks and credit-card firms are kept out of the picture. Talk to enough people in the field and someone is bound to mention the “democratisation of finance”.
2. A branch office of such an institution.
3. An underwriter or controller of a card game; also banque.
4. A fund from deposits or contributions, to be used in transacting business; a joint stock or capital.
• Francis BaconLet it be no bank or common stock, but every man be master of his own money.
5. (gambling) The sum of money etc. which the dealer or banker has as a fund from which to draw stakes and pay losses.
6. In certain games, such as dominos, a fund of pieces from which the players are allowed to draw.
7. A safe and guaranteed place of storage for and retrieval of important items or goods.
   blood bank;  sperm bank;  data bank
8. A device used to store coins or currency.If you want to buy a bicycle, you need to put the money in your piggy bank.

Synonyms

• (controller of a card game) banker

Derived terms

Related terms

• bankrupt

Verb

1. (intransitive) To deal with a bank or financial institution.He banked with Barclays.
2. (transitive) To put into a bank.I'm going to bank the money.

Derived terms

• bank on

Middle English banke, from Old English hōbanca ("couch") and Old English banc ("bank, hillock, embankment"), from Proto-Germanic *bankô. Akin to Old Norse bakki ("elevation, hill").

Noun

1. (hydrology) An edge of river, lake, or other watercourse.
• ShakespeareTiber trembled underneath her banks.
2. (nautical, hydrology) An elevation, or rising ground, under the sea; a shallow area of shifting sand, gravel, mud, and so forth (for example, a sandbank or mudbank).the banks of Newfoundland
3. (geography) A slope of earth, sand, etc.; an embankment.
4. (aviation) The incline of an aircraft, especially during a turn.
5. (rail transport) An incline, a hill.
6. A mass noun for a quantity of clouds.The bank of clouds on the horizon announced the arrival of the predicted storm front.
7. (mining) The face of the coal at which miners are working.
8. (mining) A deposit of ore or coal, worked by excavations above water level.
9. (mining) The ground at the top of a shaft.Ores are brought to bank.

Derived terms

Verb

1. (intransitive, aviation) To roll or incline laterally in order to turn.
2. (transitive) To cause (an aircraft) to bank.
3. (transitive) To form into a bank or heap, to bank up.to bank sand
4. (transitive) To cover the embers of a fire with ashes in order to retain heat.
5. (transitive) To raise a mound or dike about; to enclose, defend, or fortify with a bank; to embank.
• Hollandbanked well with earth
6. (transitive, obsolete) To pass by the banks of.

Middle English bank ("bank"), banke, from Old French banc ("bench"), from Frankish *bank. Akin to Old English benc ("bench").

Noun

1. A row or panel of items stored or grouped together.a bank of switchesa bank of pay phones
• 2011, December 10, Marc Higginson, Bolton 1 - 2 Aston Villa, Wanderers were finally woken from their slumber when Kevin Davies brought a fine save out of Brad Guzan while, minutes after the restart, Klasnic was blocked out by a bank of Villa defenders.
2. A row of keys on a musical keyboard or the equivalent on a typewriter keyboard.

Verb

1. (transitive, order and arrangement) To arrange or order in a row.

Probably from French banc. Of German origin, and akin to English bench.

Noun

1. A bench, as for rowers in a galley; also, a tier of oars.
• WallerPlaced on their banks, the lusty Trojans sweep
  Neptune's smooth face, and cleave the yielding deep.
2. A bench or seat for judges in court.
3. The regular term of a court of law, or the full court sitting to hear arguments upon questions of law, as distinguished from a sitting at nisi prius, or a court held for jury trials. See banc.
4. (archaic, printing) A kind of table used by printers.
5. (music) A bench, or row of keys belonging to a keyboard, as in an organ.

Anagrams

• nabk