bank Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun sloping land (especially the slope beside a body of water)
    • they pulled the canoe up on the bank
    • he sat on the bank of the river and watched the currents
  2. noun a financial institution that accepts deposits and channels the money into lending activities
    banking concern; depository financial institution; banking company.
    • he cashed a check at the bank
    • that bank holds the mortgage on my home
  3. noun a long ridge or pile
    • a huge bank of earth
  4. noun an arrangement of similar objects in a row or in tiers
    • he operated a bank of switches
  5. noun a supply or stock held in reserve for future use (especially in emergencies)
  6. noun the funds held by a gambling house or the dealer in some gambling games
    • he tried to break the bank at Monte Carlo
  7. noun a slope in the turn of a road or track; the outside is higher than the inside in order to reduce the effects of centrifugal force
    cant; camber.
  8. noun a container (usually with a slot in the top) for keeping money at home
    coin bank; money box; savings bank.
    • the coin bank was empty
  9. noun a building in which the business of banking transacted
    bank building.
    • the bank is on the corner of Nassau and Witherspoon
  10. noun a flight maneuver; aircraft tips laterally about its longitudinal axis (especially in turning)
    • the plane went into a steep bank
  11. verb tip laterally
    • the pilot had to bank the aircraft
  12. verb enclose with a bank
    • bank roads
  13. verb do business with a bank or keep an account at a bank
    • Where do you bank in this town?
  14. verb act as the banker in a game or in gambling
  15. verb be in the banking business
  16. verb put into a bank account
    deposit.
    • She deposits her paycheck every month
  17. verb cover with ashes so to control the rate of burning
    • bank a fire
  18. verb have confidence or faith in
    rely; trust; swear.
    • We can trust in God
    • Rely on your friends
    • bank on your good education
    • I swear by my grandmother's recipes

WordNet

Bank noun
Etymology
OE. banke; akin to E. bench, and prob. of Scand. origin.; cf. Icel. bakki. See Bench.
Definitions
  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 transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Banked(); present participle & verbal noun Banking
Definitions
  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.
Bank noun
Etymology
Prob. fr. F. banc. Of German origin, and akin to E. bench. See Bench.
Definitions
  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 noun
Etymology
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.
Definitions
  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 transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To deposit in a bank.
Bank intransitive verb
Definitions
  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.

Webster 1913