Bank

BANK, n. [Bank and bench are radically the same word. The sense is, that which is set, laid or extended. Applied to a mass of earth, it is a collection, that which is thrown or laid together.]

1. A mound, pile or ridge of earth, raised above the surrounding plain, either as a defense or for other purposes. 2 Sam 20:15.

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. When we speak of the earth in general adjoining a lake or the sea, we use the word shore; but a particular steep acclivity on the side of a lake, river or the sea, is called a bank.

3. A bench,or a bench of rowers, in a galley; so called from their seat.

Placed on their banks, the lusty Trojans sweep.

4. By analogy, a collection or stock of money, deposited, by a number of persons, for a particular use; that is, an aggregate of particulars, or a fund; as, to establish a bank, that is a joint fund.

5. The place where a collection of money is deposited; a common repository of the money of individuals or of companies; also a house used for a bank.

6. 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.

7. An elevation, or rising ground, in the sea; called also flats, shoals, shelves or shallows. These may rise to the surface of the water or near to it; but the word bank signifies also elevated ground at the bottom of the sea, when many fathoms below the surface, as the banks of Newfoundland.

BANK, v.t. To raise a mound or dyke; to inclose, defend or fortify with a bank; as, to bank a house.

2. To pass by the banks of.

As I have bank’d their towns. [Not in use.]

3. To lay up or deposit money in a bank. (Little used.]