Băṅk1, n.
(82), n. [A-S. banc, benc, D. & Ger. bank, Sw. & Dan. bank, bänk; Fr. & Pr. banc, It. banco, from Ger. See BENCH.]
Sense 1. A mound, pile, or ridge of earth, raised above the surrounding level.
They cast up a bank against the city. 2 Sam. xx. 15.
Sense 2. Any steep acclivity, whether rising from a river, a lake, or the sea, or forming the side of a ravine, or the steep side of a hillock on a plain. “Tiber trembled underneath his bank.” Shak.
Sense 3. An elevation, or rising ground, in the sea; a flat; a shoal; a shelf; a shallow; as, the banks of Newfoundland.
Sense 4. A bench, or a bench of rowers, in a galley.
Placed on their banks, the lusty Trojans sweep
Neptune’s smooth face, and cleave the yielding deep. Waller.
Sense 5. (Com.) An establishment for the custody, or the loaning, exchange, or issue, of money, and for facilitating the transmission of funds by drafts or bills of exchange; a fund from deposits or contributions; the fund of a gaming establishment, as of a faro-bank, and the like.
Sense 6. The office of a banking establishment.
Sense 7. A company of persons concerned in a bank, whether a private association or an incorporated company; the stockholders of a bank, or their representatives, the directors, acting in their corporate capacity.
Sense 8. (Law.) (a.) The bench or seat upon which the judges sat. (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.
Burrill. New Amer. Cyc.
Sense 9. (Printing.) A sort of table used by printers.
Sense 10. (Carp.) A long piece of timber, about six inches square.