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bank - 21 dictionary results
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bank

1  [bangk]
Use bank in a Sentence
–noun
1. a long pile or heap; mass: a bank of earth; a bank of clouds.
2. a slope or acclivity.
3. Physical Geography. the slope immediately bordering a stream course along which the water normally runs.
4. a broad elevation of the sea floor around which the water is relatively shallow but not a hazard to surface navigation.
5. Coal Mining. the surface around the mouth of a shaft.
6. Also called cant, superelevation. the inclination of the bed of a banked road or railroad.
7. Aeronautics. the lateral inclination of an aircraft, esp. during a turn.
8. Billiards, Pool. the cushion of the table.
–verb (used with object)
9. to border with or like a bank; embank: banking the river with sandbags at flood stage.
10. to form into a bank or heap (usually fol. by up): to bank up the snow.
11. to build (a road or railroad track) with an upward slope from the inner edge to the outer edge at a curve.
12. Aeronautics. to tip or incline (an airplane) laterally.
13. Billiards, Pool.
a. to drive (a ball) to the cushion.
b. to pocket (the object ball) by driving it against the bank.
14. to cover (a fire) with ashes or fuel to make it burn long and slowly.
–verb (used without object)
15. to build up in or form banks, as clouds or snow.
16. Aeronautics. to tip or incline an airplane laterally.
17. Horology. (of a lever or balance) to be halted at either end of its oscillation by striking a pin or the like.
18. (of a road or railroad track) to slope upward from the inner edge to the outer edge at a curve.
Origin:
1150–1200; ME banke, OE hōbanca couch; c. ON bakki elevation, hill, Sw backe, Dan bakke < Gmc *bank-ōn-; perh. akin to Skt bhañj- bend, Lith bangà wave; see bank 3 , bench

Synonyms:
1. embankment, mound, ridge, dike. 3. See shore 1 .
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bank

2  [bangk]
–noun
1. an institution for receiving, lending, exchanging, and safeguarding money and, in some cases, issuing notes and transacting other financial business.
2. the office or quarters of such an institution.
3. Games.
a. the stock or fund of pieces from which the players draw.
b. the fund of the manager or the dealer.
4. a special storage place: a blood bank; a sperm bank.
5. a store or reserve.
6. Obsolete.
a. a sum of money, esp. as a fund for use in business.
b. a moneychanger's table, counter, or shop.
–verb (used without object)
7. to keep money in or have an account with a bank: Do you bank at the Village Savings Bank?
8. to exercise the functions of a bank or banker.
9. Games. to hold the bank.
–verb (used with object)
10. to deposit in a bank: to bank one's paycheck.
—Verb phrase
11. bank on or upon, to count on; depend on: You can bank on him to hand you a reasonable bill for his services.
Origin:
1425–75; late ME < MF banque < It banca table, counter, moneychanger's table < OHG bank bench

bank

3  [bangk]
–noun
1. an arrangement of objects in a line or in tiers: a bank of seats; a bank of lights.
2. Music. a row of keys on an organ.
3. a row of elevator cars, as in a hotel or high-rise office building.
4. a bench for rowers in a galley.
5. a row or tier of oars.
6. the group of rowers occupying one bench or rowing one oar.
7. Printing.
a. (formerly) a bench on which sheets are placed as printed.
b. Also called, especially British, random. the sloping work surface at the top of a compositor's workbench.
c. a table or rack on which type material is stored before being made up in forms.
8. Also called deck. Journalism. a part of a headline containing one or more lines of type, esp. a part that appears below the main part.
9. Electricity. a number of similar devices connected to act together: a bank of transformers; a bank of resistors.
–verb (used with object)
10. to arrange in a bank: to bank the seats; to bank the lights.
Origin:
1200–50; ME bank(e) < OF banc bench < Gmc; see bank 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To bank
bank 1   (bāngk)   
n.  
  1. A piled-up mass, as of snow or clouds. See Synonyms at heap.
  2. A steep natural incline.
  3. An artificial embankment.
  4. The slope of land adjoining a body of water, especially adjoining a river, lake, or channel. Often used in the plural.
  5. A large elevated area of a sea floor. Often used in the plural.
  6. Games The cushion of a billiard or pool table.
  7. The lateral inward tilting, as of a motor vehicle or an aircraft, in turning or negotiating a curve.
v.   banked, bank·ing, banks

v.   tr.
  1. To border or protect with a ridge or embankment.
  2. To pile up; amass: banked earth along the wall.
  3. To cover (a fire), as with ashes or fresh fuel, to ensure continued low burning.
  4. To construct with a slope rising to the outside edge: The turns on the racetrack were steeply banked.
    1. To tilt (an aircraft) laterally and inwardly in flight.
    2. To tilt (a motor vehicle) laterally and inwardly when negotiating a curve.
  6. Games To strike (a billiard ball) so that it rebounds from the cushion of the table.
  7. Sports To play (a ball or puck) in such a way as to make it glance off a surface, such as a backboard or wall.
v.   intr.
  1. To rise in or take the form of a bank.
  2. To tilt an aircraft or a motor vehicle laterally when turning.

[Middle English, of Scandinavian origin.]
bank 2   (bāngk)   
n.  
    1. A business establishment in which money is kept for saving or commercial purposes or is invested, supplied for loans, or exchanged.
    2. The offices or building in which such an establishment is located.
    3. The funds of a gambling establishment.
    4. The funds held by a dealer or banker in some gambling games.
    5. The reserve pieces, cards, chips, or play money in some games, such as poker, from which the players may draw.
    6. A supply or stock for future or emergency use: a grain bank.
    7. Medicine A supply of human tissues or other materials, such as blood, skin, or sperm, held in reserve for future use.
  2. Games
    1. The funds of a gambling establishment.
    2. The funds held by a dealer or banker in some gambling games.
    3. The reserve pieces, cards, chips, or play money in some games, such as poker, from which the players may draw.
    4. A supply or stock for future or emergency use: a grain bank.
    5. Medicine A supply of human tissues or other materials, such as blood, skin, or sperm, held in reserve for future use.
    1. A supply or stock for future or emergency use: a grain bank.
    2. Medicine A supply of human tissues or other materials, such as blood, skin, or sperm, held in reserve for future use.
  4. A place of safekeeping or storage: a computer's memory bank.
  5. Obsolete A moneychanger's table or place of business.
v.   banked, bank·ing, banks

v.   tr.
To deposit in or as if in a bank.
v.   intr.
  1. To transact business with a bank or maintain a bank account.
  2. To operate a bank.
Phrasal Verb(s):
bank onTo have confidence in; rely on.

[Middle English banke, from French banque, from Old Italian banca, bench, moneychanger's table, from Old High German banc.]
bank 3   (bāngk)   
n.  
  1. A set of similar or matched things arranged in a row, especially:
    1. A set of elevators.
    2. A row of keys on a keyboard.
    3. A bench for rowers in a galley.
    4. A row of oars in a galley.
  2. Nautical
    1. A bench for rowers in a galley.
    2. A row of oars in a galley.
  3. Printing The lines of type under a headline.
tr.v.   banked, bank·ing, banks
To arrange or set up in a row: "Every street was banked with purple-blooming trees" (Doris Lessing).

[Middle English, bench, from Old French banc, from Late Latin bancus, of Germanic origin.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Bank

Bank\ (b[a^][ng]k), n. [OE. banke; akin to E. bench, and prob. of Scand. origin.; cf. Icel. bakki. See Bench.]

1. 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. --2 Sam. xx. 15.

2. A steep acclivity, as the slope of a hill, or the side of a ravine.

3. 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. --Shak.

4. An elevation, or rising ground, under the sea; a shoal, shelf, or shallow; as, the banks of Newfoundland.

5. (Mining) (a) The face of the coal at which miners are working. (b) A deposit of ore or coal, worked by excavations above water level. (c) The ground at the top of a shaft; as, ores are brought to bank.

Bank beaver (Zo["o]l.), the otter. [Local, U.S.]

Bank swallow, a small American and European swallow (Clivicola riparia) that nests in a hole which it excavates in a bank.

Bank

Bank\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Banked(b[a^][ng]kt); p. pr. & vb. n. Banking.]

1. To raise a mound or dike about; to inclose, defend, or fortify with a bank; to embank. "Banked well with earth." --Holland.

2. To heap or pile up; as, to bank sand.

3. To pass by the banks of. [Obs.] --Shak.

To bank a fire, To bank up a fire, to cover the coals or embers with ashes or cinders, thus keeping the fire low but alive.

Bank

Bank\, n. [Prob. fr. F. banc. Of German origin, and akin to E. bench. See Bench.]

1. 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. --Waller.

2. (Law) (a) The bench or seat upon which the judges sit. (b) 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. --Burrill.

3. (Printing) A sort of table used by printers.

4. (Music) A bench, or row of keys belonging to a keyboard, as in an organ. --Knight.

Bank

Bank\, n. [F. banque, It. banca, orig. bench, table, counter, of German origin, and akin to E. bench; cf. G. bank bench, OHG. banch. See Bench, and cf. Banco, Beach.]

1. 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.

2. The building or office used for banking purposes.

3. A fund from deposits or contributions, to be used in transacting business; a joint stock or capital. [Obs.]

Let it be no bank or common stock, but every man be master of his own money. --Bacon.

4. (Gaming) 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.

5. In certain games, as dominos, a fund of pieces from which the players are allowed to draw.

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

Bank\, v. t. To deposit in a bank.

Bank

Bank\, v. i. 1. To keep a bank; to carry on the business of a banker.

2. To deposit money in a bank; to have an account with a banker.

Bank

Bank\, n. A group or series of objects arranged near together; as, a bank of electric lamps, etc.

Bank

Bank\, n. (A["e]ronautics) The lateral inclination of an a["e]roplane as it rounds a curve; as, a bank of 45[deg] is easy; a bank of 90[deg] is dangerous.

Bank

Bank\, v. i. (A["e]ronautics) To tilt sidewise in rounding a curve; -- said of a flying machine, an a["e]rocurve, or the like.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : bank
Spanish: terraplén, loma, banco,
German: der Erdwall,
Japanese: 土手
More Translations »

bank  (1)
"financial institution," 1474, from either O.It. banca or M.Fr. banque (itself from the O.It. term), both meaning "table" (the notion is of the moneylender's exchange table), from a Gmc. source (cf. O.H.G. bank "bench"); see bank (2). The verb meaning "to put confidence in" (U.S. colloquial) is attested from 1884. Bank holiday is from 1871, though the tradition is as old as the Bank of England. Bankroll (v.) "to finance" is 1920s. To cry all the way to the bank was coined 1956 by flamboyant pianist Liberace, after a Madison Square Garden concert that was packed with patrons but panned by critics.

bank  (2)
"earthen incline, edge of a river," c.1200, probably in O.E., from O.N. banki, from P.Gmc. *bangkon "slope," cognate with P.Gmc. *bankiz "shelf."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Bank

A commercial institution licensed as a receiver of deposits. Banks are mainly concerned with making and receiving payments as well as supplying short-term loans to individuals.

Investopedia Commentary

In most countries banks are supervised by the national government or central bank.

Related Links

The Federal Reserve (the Fed) Tutorial

See also: Bankmail, Broker - Dealer, Investment Bank, Merchant Bank, Private Banking, Retail Banking, Thrift Bank, Wholesale Banking

Investopedia.com. Copyright © 1999-2005 - All rights reserved. Owned and Operated by Investopedia Inc.
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Main Entry: bank
Pronunciation: 'ba[ng]k
Function: noun
: an organization for the custody, loan, or exchange of money, for the extension of credit, and for facilitating the transmission of funds
branch bank
: a banking facility that is a separate but dependent part of a chartered bank; especially : a facility that performs some banking functions and is separate from a main office
bridge bank
: a national bank that is chartered for a limited time to operate an insolvent bank until it is sold
central bank
: a national bank that establishes monetary and fiscal policy and controls the money supply and interest rate
collecting bank
: a bank other than the payor bank that is handling for collection a negotiable instrument or a promise or order to pay money
commercial bank
: a bank organized chiefly to handle the everyday financial transactions of businesses (as through deposit accounts and commercial loans)
cooperative bank
: an association (as a credit union) owned by and offering banking services for its members; specifically : SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION
depositary bank
: the first bank to take a negotiable instrument or promise or order to pay money unless the instrument, promise, or order is presented for immediate payment over the counter
federal land bank
: a land bank that is under federal charter and regulated by the Farm Credit Administration
Federal Re·serve bank
: one of 12 central banks set up under the Federal Reserve Act to hold reserves for and extend credit to affiliated banks in their respective districts
intermediary bank
: a bank other than the depositary or payor bank to which a negotiable instrument or promise or order to pay is transferred in the course of collection
land bank
1 : a bank that provides financing for land development and farm mortgages esp. by issuing stock —see also FEDERAL LAND BANK in this entry
2 : a trust that holds land for purposes of preservation or conservation
national bank
: a bank operating under federal charter and supervision
nonbank bank
: a financial organization (as a branch of an out-of-state bank) that either accepts demand deposits or makes commercial loans
payor bank
: a bank that is the drawee of a draft
presenting bank
: a bank other than a payor bank that presents a negotiable instrument or promise or order to pay money
sav·ings bank
: a bank organized to hold depositors' funds in interest-bearing accounts and to make long-term investments (as in home mortgage loans)
state bank
: a bank operating under state charter and law —bank·er /'ba[ng]-k&r/ noun
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Main Entry: bank
Pronunciation: 'ba[ng]k
Function: noun
: a place where something is held available bank>; especially : adepot for the collection and storage of a biological product of human origin for medical use bank> bank> —see BLOOD BANK
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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bank

In addition to the idiom beginning with bank, also see break the bank; laugh all the way to the bank.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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