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bank¹ Definition

bank (baŋk)

noun

  1. an establishment for receiving, keeping, lending, or, sometimes, issuing money, and making easier the exchange of funds by checks, notes, etc.
  2. the office or building of such an establishment
  3. savings bank (sense )
    1. the fund put up by the dealer in baccarat, out of which losses are paid
    2. the entire monetary pool of a gambling establishment
    3. a common fund of chips, pieces, etc. used in playing a game, as poker or dominoes
  5. ☆ a reserve of things for later distribution or use, or a place for this; specif.,
    1. a store of blood for transfusions, body organs for transplantation, etc.
    2. a store or a device for keeping retrievable data a memory bank

Etymology: ME banke < MFr banque < OIt banca, orig., table, moneylenders' exchange table < OHG bank, bench: see bank

intransitive verb

  1. to deposit money in or do business with a bank
  2. to operate or manage a bank
  3. to be in charge of the bank, as in some gambling games

transitive verb

to deposit (money) in a bank

bank¹ Idioms

bank on

☆

Informal to depend on; rely on

bank² Definition

bank (baŋk)

noun

  1. a long mound or heap, as of ground, clouds, or snow; ridge
  2. a steep rise or slope, as of a hill
  3. a stretch of rising land at the edge of a body of water, esp. a stream
  4. a shoal or shallow place, as in a sea or lake; esp., a raised part of a continental shelf
  5. the sloping of an airplane laterally to avoid slipping sideways on a turn
  6. the sloping of a road, racing track, etc. laterally along a curve
  7. Billiards cushion (sense )
  8. Mining the face or top end of the body of ore

Etymology: ME banke < (prob. via Anglo-Norm *banki) ON bakki, akin to OHG & Du bank & OE benc, bench

transitive verb

  1. to heap dirt around for protection from cold, light, etc.; embank
  2. to arrange (a fire) by covering with ashes, adding fuel, etc. so that it will burn low and keep longer
  3. to heap or pile up so as to form a bank
  4. to construct (a curve in a road, etc.) so that it slopes up from the inside edge
  5. to slope (an airplane) laterally on a turn, with the inside wing low and the outside wing high so as to prevent slipping sideways
  6. Basketball to shoot (the ball) so that it bounces from the backboard into the basket
  7. Billiards
    1. to stroke (a ball) so that it recoils from a cushion
    2. to make (a shot) in this way

intransitive verb

  1. to take the form of a bank or banks
  2. to fly an airplane with lateral slope on a turn

bank³ Definition

bank (baŋk)

noun

    1. a bench for rowers in a galley
    2. the rowers
  2. a row or tier of oars
  3. a row or tier of objects a bank of lights
  4. a row of keys in a keyboard or console
  5. any of the subheads under a newspaper headline

Etymology: ME banke < OFr banc, bench < Frank or OHG bank: see bank

transitive verb

to arrange in a bank

bank Synonyms

bank

n.

  1. A wall of earth

    levee, embankment, mound; see ridge 2.

  2. Ground rising above adjacent water

    ledge, cliff, edge, shore; see shore.

  3. Raised ground under water

    shoal, reef, bar; see shoal.

  4. A financial establishment

    savings bank, commercial bank, countinghouse, investment firm, banking house, financial custodian, credit union, trust company, treasury, exchequer, repository of funds, national bank, state bank, cooperative bank, savings and loan association, thrift (institution), Federal Reserve Bank, private bank, lending institution, depository, vault, automated teller machine or ATM, cash machine.

  5. A row of objects close together

    series, group, sequence; see line 1.

  6. The pitch in a turn

    slope, lean, incline; see inclination 5.

  7. A gambling establishment

    the house, cashier, club; see casino. See syn. study at shoal, shore.

bank Synonyms

bank

v.

  1. To deposit money

    save, deposit, put in the bank, enter an account; see deposit 2.

  2. To operate a bank

    lend money, hold money in trust, practice usury, speculate.

  3. To heap earth or similar material

    dike, pile, hill; see heap 1.

  4. To cover a fire for the night

    trim, build up, stoke, replenish, regulate, cover.

  5. To tilt on a curve

    lean, pitch, bend, slope; see lean 1.

bank Finance Definition
A financial business chartered by state or federal government that takes in deposits from individuals and businesses. Banks then lend the money to other individuals and businesses that need cash. Banks also offer a variety of financial and investment products, such as checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, loans, and mortgages. In recent years, banks have added online bill payment services and online banking. Accounts at banks are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) for up to $100,000 per account.
bank Law Definition

n

A financial institution, whether incorporated or not, with a substantial portion of its business consisting of receiving deposits and maintaining savings accounts and checking accounts. Most also issue loans and credit, exchange currencies, transmit funds, and deal in negotiable bonds and securities issued by corporations and the government.
commercial bank
A bank, often organized as a public corporation, that offers the broadest range of services allowed by law, but that is required to keep a larger percentage of its deposits on reserve than is required of savings and loan associations and savings banks.
savings and loan association
A financial institution, often organized and operated like a bank, with a primary purpose to make loans so that individuals can purchase or construct homes, but that also provide various banking services. See also building and loan association.
savings bank
A bank that receives deposits, maintains savings accounts (from which funds can usually be withdrawn only after a set period of time or advance notice), pays interest on them at usually higher rates than commercial banks, and makes certain loans. However, a savings bank cannot maintain checking accounts and is allowed to invest only in certain types of corporate and government bonds and securities.
bank Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • river: There is walking direct from the door, with paths weaving through fells or meandering along the banks of the river.

Converse of object

  • rob: A Taiwan police officer tried to rob a bank with a toy gun.

Adjective modifier

  • central: The Swiss National bank is another central bank to have greatly reduced its dollar ratio in recent years.
  • steep: To get back home was a task in itself up a nice steep bank.
  • south: Situated on south bank very near the dam wall.
  • north: Cross to the north bank at Shaw's Bridge.
  • east: Thumby planned for his family a fairly large three-storey home to be some 200 feet from the east bank of the river.
  • piggy: Take the " piggy bank " search for example.

Modifies a noun

  • account: Transfer the money to our bank account via bank transfer from your bank account or by visiting any branch of Barclays Bank.
  • holiday: Next year an extra bank holiday is already planned to mark the Queen's golden jubilee.
  • statement: I have now received a bank statement showing our final balance.
  • robber: Burglars, street criminals, bank robbers and psychotics like Hamilton will take no notice.
  • balance: The bank balance at 31 December 1999 was £ 3.0 million.
  • loan: Last year, he said, 76 percent of all bank loans in Shanghai were in real estate.

Noun used with modifier

  • river: A few of the old mill cottages still survive but the ones on the river bank have long gone.
  • clearing: Please note that the College only accepts checks drawn on a UK clearing bank, sterling drafts or postal orders.
  • investment: He works for an investment bank in London at Canary Wharf.
  • recycling: Also has search function to find your nearest oil recycling bank.
  • shingle: The river seems to have flowed close to the shore but was separated from it by great shingle banks.
  • street: High street banks say many students have to supplement their state loans with commercial ones in order to meet their living costs.
bank Quotes

Dear J W, have the bank president finish the script.

—Epstein,JuliusJ

She has been beastly to the Bank of England, has demanded that the BBC'set its house in order'and tends to believe the worst of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She cannot see an institution without hitting it with her handbag.

—Critchley, SirJulian Michael Gordon

What you said hurt me very much. I cried all the way to the bank.

—Liberace pseudonym of  Wladziu Valentino Liberace

   The easiest way to steal from a bank is to own one.

—Korthals, Robert

Inside every banker, even the governor of the Bank of England, there lies a gambling streak. In me, they recognise one of their own kind.

—Kristol, Irving

You can't put off being young until you retire, And however you bank your screw, the money you save Won't in the end buy you more than a shave.

—Larkin, Philip Arthur

TrueThomas lay on Huntlie bank, A ferlie he spied wi' his e'e, And there he saw a ladye bright, Come riding down by the EildonTree.

—Ballads

Any general statement is like a cheque drawn on a bank. Its value depends on what is there to meet it.

—Pound, Ezra Loomis

   U.S.A. is the slice of a continent.U.S.A. is a group of holding companies, some aggregations of trade unions, a set of laws bound in calf, a radio network, a chain of moving picture theatres, a column of stock quotations rubbed out and written in bya Western Union boy on a black-board, a publiclibrary full of old newspapers and dogeared historybooks with protests scrawled in the margins in pencil.U.S.A. is the world's greatest rivervalley fringed with mountains and hills.U.S.A. is a set of bigmouthed officials with too many bankaccounts.U.S.A. is a lot of men buried in their uniforms in Arlington Cemetery.U.S.A. is the letters at theend of anaddresswhenyouareaway from home.But mostly U.S.A. is the speech of the people

—Dos Passos,John Roderigo

O waly, waly up the bank, And waly, waly doun the brae, And waly, waly yon burn-side Where I and my love wont to gae. I lean'd my back unto an aik, I thocht it was a trustie tree; But first it bow'd, and syne it brakeö Sae my true love did lichtlie me. O waly, waly, gin love be bonnie A little time while it is new; But when 'tis auld it waxeth cauld And fades awa' like morning dew. O wherefore should I busk my heid, O wherefore should I kame my hair? For my true love has me forsook, And says he'll never lo'e me mair.

—Ballads

Where, like a pillow on a bed, A pregnant bank swelled up, to rest The violet's reclining head, Sat we two, one another's best.

—Donne,John

I dreamed that, as I wandered by the way, Bare Winter suddenly was changed to Spring, And gentle odours led my steps astray, Mixed with a sound of water's murmuring Along a shelving bankof turf, which lay Under a copse, and hardly dared to fling Its green arms round the bosom of the stream, But kissed it and then fled, as thou mightst in dream.

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

Will you please tell me what you do with all the vice presidents a bank has?† The United Statesisthebiggest business institution in the world and they only have one vice president and nobody has ever found anything for him to do.

—Rogers,Will