Artificial intelligent assistant

bench

I. bench, n.
    (bɛnʃ)
    Forms: 1 benc(e, 3–6 benche, (Orm. bennche), 4– bench. For Sc. and northern forms, see benk, bink.
    [Comm. Teut.: OE. bęnc = ON. *benkr (Sw. bänk, Da. bænk, Icel. bekkr), OS., MHG., MDu. banc, OHG. banch, mod.G., Du. bank:—OTeut. *banki-z ‘bench’: cf. bank n.1, n.2, which are originally the same word as this, introduced into English at a later time through Romanic. In sense 2, bench translates L. bancum, AF. baunc, baunk.]
    1. a. A long seat, with or without a back, usually of wood, but also of stone, etc. ‘Distinguished from a stool by its greater length.’ J.

a 1000 Beowulf 659 Buᵹon þa to bence. c 1200 Ormin 14087 He wollde sittenn þær, To drinnkenn þære on bennche. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. i. 200 To cracchen ous [rats]..þouh we crepe vnder benches. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 30 Benche, scamnum. 1535 Coverdale Esther i. 6 The benches were of golde and siluer. 1611 Bible Ezek. xxvii. 6 Thy benches of Yuorie. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 509 ¶3 The benches around are so filthy, that no one can sit down. 1870 F. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 69 The nave is now seated with two rows of low-backed benches.

    b. A seat or thwart in a boat.

1552 Huloet, Benches in a barge, bote, or shyppe, juga, 1791 Cowper Odyss. xv. 666 Each obedient, to his bench repaired. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Benches of Boats.

    c. Baseball, Assoc. Football, etc. A seat provided for the members of a team who are waiting to bat, play, etc. N. Amer.

1912 C. Mathewson Pitching in Pinch 93 The bench! To many fans..this is a long, hooded structure from which the next batter emerges and where the players sit while their club is at bat. 1916 Spalding's Baseball Guide 316 All players and substitutes of the side at bat must be seated on their team's bench, except the batsman, base-runners and such as are legally assigned to coach base-runners. 1967 Boston Globe 5 Apr. 51/1 For the first play-off game..Auerbach sat next to the Boston bench. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 15 Jan. 19/2 The Boston team then became involved in a fight with some fans behind its bench. Ibid. 13 Feb. 28/4 Davis seldom went to his bench and his players appeared very tired in the final quarter.

    2. a. The seat where the judges sit in court; the judge's seat, or seat of justice; hence, the office or dignity of a judge, as in ‘to be raised to the bench.’

c 1275 Mapes Body & Soul 305 Theiȝ alle the men nouȝ. under mone to demen weren sette on benche. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. ii. 86 To plucke down Iustice from your awefull Bench. 1663 Butler Hud. i. i. 23 Great on the Bench, Great in the Saddle. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 450 These qualifications he carried..from the bar to the bench. Ibid. 662 On the bench sate three judges who had been with Jeffreys.

    b. Hence, the place where justice is administered: orig. applied to The (Court of) Common Bench, or (later) Common Pleas at Westminster, Anglo-Fr. le baunc, L. bancum; also The (Court of) King's or Queen's Bench, in which originally the sovereign presided, and which followed him in his movements. (These now form divisions of the High Court of Judicature.)

1292 Britton i. xxvii. §13 Brefs pledables par devaunt nos Justices du baunc a Westmouster [before our Justices of the Bench at Westminster]. Ibid. §14 Si soint ajournez en baunc en presence des parties [they shall be adjourned into the Bench]. Ibid. xxii. §18 Des clers..del un baunc et del autre, et des clers del Escheker [the clerks..of the one Bench and the other]. 1297 R. Glouc. 570 Biuore þe iustises atte benche. 1330 [See benk.] 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. Prol. 95 To ben Clerkes of þe Kynges Benche. 1474 Caxton Chesse 79 The courtes of the chaunserye, kynges bench, comyn place. 1628 Coke On Litt. 71 b, Called the Kings Bench..because Kings in former times haue often personally set there. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. 41 The court of king's bench..is the supreme court of common law in the kingdom. 1809 Tomlins Law Dict. s.v. King's Bench, During the reign of a Queen, it is called the Queen's Bench; and in Cromwell's time, it was stiled the Upper Bench. 1835 Penny Cycl. III. 376/1 Of the modern Court of Common Pleas..the judges..retain the technical title of ‘Justices of the Bench at Westminster’ to the present day.

    c. Any court of justice; a tribunal.

1589 Pasquil's Ret. B ij, The Courtes, Benches, Sessions, that are helde..in her Maiesties name. 1660 Milton Free Commw. Wks. (1851) 451 Monarchs..will have all the Benches of Judicature annex'd to the Throne. 1863 Kingsley Water-Bab. iv. 149 The other two [days] he went to the bench and the board of guardians.

    d. The judges or magistrates collectively, or the judge or magistrate sitting in the seat of justice.

1592 Greene Art Conny Catch. 10 The bench, that neuer heard this name before, smiled. 1677 Marvell Corr. 296 II. 355 Sir, Your's and the Bench's most humble servant. a 1716 Bp. O. Blackall Wks. I. 318 He had been asked some questions by the Bench. 1753 Pringle in Scots Mag. XV. 42/1 The bench consisted of six persons. 1837 Disraeli Venetia i. xvi, Now, prisoner, the bench is ready to hear your confession.

    3. a. A seat where a number of persons sit side by side in some official capacity; e.g. those in the British Houses of Parliament (originally simple wooden benches), that occupied by the Aldermen in a Council Chamber, etc.

[1607 Shakes. Timon iv. i. 5 Slaues and Fooles Plucke the graue wrinkled Senate from the Bench.] 1742 Shenstone Schoolmistr. xxviii, A little bench of heedless bishops And there a chancellor in embryo. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815) 132 Every individual that now filled the bench of bishops in the house of Lords. 1812 Examiner 4 May 280/1 (Parliament. Rep.), Loud cheering from the Treasury bench. 1849 H. Martineau Hist. Eng. I. 15 The cross-benches of neutrality in the House of Commons. 1883 May Law of Parl. 16 The spiritual and temporal lords..sit apart, on separate benches. 1885 Manch. Exam. 24 July 6/1 The comparative bareness of..the Whig benches on the left of the Speaker's chair.

    Hence, b. The dignity of occupying such a seat, as ‘to be raised to the episcopal bench,’ i.e. the Bishop's bench in the House of Lords, ‘to aspire to the civic bench,’ i.e. to be an Alderman, etc. c. Applied collectively to the persons who occupy, or have a right to occupy, such a seat.

[1494 Fabyan vii. 665 By a consent of the benche [of aldermen], and of the comyn counsayll.] 1600 Chapman Iliad vi. 513 Those loving vows to living Jove he used And all the other bench of gods. 1801 Bp. Lincoln in G. Rose Diaries (1860) I. 359 It has..excited no small alarm amongst some of our bench. 1853 Bright India, Sp. (1876) 2, I do not allude to the whole of the Treasury bench. 1860 Forster Gr. Remonstr. 196 The conflict with the Right Reverend Bench which ended in their committal to the Tower.

    4. An article of furniture similar in form to the long seat (sense 1): a. a footstool; b. the rough strong table at which carpenters and other mechanics work; c. a banker's counter.

c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶515 Ne schal ye not swere..by the eorthe, for it is the benche of his feet. 1727 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Foundery, Two workmen..have a table or bench in common. 1755 Johnson Dict. s.v. Bankrupt, When any became insolvent his..bench was broke. 1881 Mechanic i. viii §466 A carpenter's bench may be either fixed or moveable. 1885 Hesba Stretton in Good Words XIV. 27/2, I have begun to work a little now at the bench.

    5. Hence, A collection of dogs as exhibited at a show on benches or platforms; hence attrib.

1883 Chamb. Jrnl. 305 The ‘bench’ and field properties of a greyhound.

    6. = bank n.1 1.

c 1450 Why not Nun 114 in E.E.P. (1862) 141 Vn-to a benche of camomylle My wofulle hede I dyd inclyne. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. 30 Vpon a bench couered with greene torves we satte. 1652 Ashmole Theat. Chem. 215 Benches coverid with new Turves grene.

    7. a. Any conformation of earth, stone, etc., which has a raised and flat surface: e.g. the coping of a wall (? obs.); a level ledge or set-back in the slope of masonry or earthwork; in U.S. a level tract between a river and neighbouring hills; a horizontal division or layer of a coal-seam, cut by itself. Hence bench-land.

1730 A. Gordon Maffei's Amph. 399 The Bench or Out-jutting, which is above the highest Ridge of the Building. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §111 Its slope..being formed into a sort of steps, or benches. 1811 Deb. Congress (1853) 2116 Towards the left flank this bench of high land widened considerably. 1857 W. Chandless Visit Salt Lake ii. x. 326 Bench-land fifty or hundred feet above the water-level. 1862 R. Mayne Brit. Columbia 108 These flats or benches..are found generally at the bends of the river. 1873 J. H. Beadle Undevel. West xxiv. 481 We turn south-west, rising by successive ‘benches’ to a vast barren table land. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss. s.v. Bench, One bench or layer [of coal] being cut before the adjacent one. 1920 Mulford J. Nelson xii. 129 Right on them benches on th' east end of th' mountain.

    b. Geol. A natural terrace marking the outcrop of a harder seam or stratum.

1884 Science 13 June 729/1 On this rest argillaceous, splendent, siliceous talc schists..; and on these, three benches of conglomerates, tuffs, and argillaceous schists and lime-stones. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 20 May 9/1 The same feature will doubtless exist as each bench is worked.

    c. The ledge or floor upon which the retorts stand in a retort-house; also, a set of retorts; also, the complete furnace or oven containing a set of retorts.

1841 Civil Eng. & Archit. Jrnl. IV. 100/2 The works are laid out in eight distinct sections of ten ‘benches’, or thirty retorts each. 1920 Conquest May 320/3 In a large retort-house the settings are built in benches containing as many as 150 ‘through’ retorts.

    8. Law. See free-bench.
    9. Comb., chiefly attrib., as bench-cloth, bench-tied (sense 1), bench-business, bench-mute (sense 2), bench-cheek, bench-drill, bench-jaw or bench-vice (4 b). Also bench-babbler = bench-whistler; bench-clamp, a kind of vice with sliding side used to force together the parts, e.g. of a window-frame; bench-coal (see 7); bench-end, the end of a seat in a church, freq. ornamented (see poppy-head 2); bench-hammer, a finisher's or blacksmith's hammer; bench-holdfast, an iron hook, sliding in a socket, by which a plank may be gripped; bench-hole, a privy; bench-hook, (a) = bench-holdfast; (b) (see quot. 1888); bench-key, a particular key used by a watchmaker for winding watches upon which he is employed; bench-man, an operative who works at a bench, in various trades, as a joiner; also, a cabinet-maker who assists at bench-work, a labourer who works at a coke bench; bench-plane, a joiner's plane for working on a flat surface; bench-reel, a spinning reel on the pirn of which sailmakers wind their yarn; bench-room, sitting accommodation; bench-root Agric., ‘an abnormal root development due to the presence of tough seed coats; the roots are often twisted together or badly formed’ (Webster Addenda 1918); bench-screw (see quot.); bench-shears, shears used by copper- and zinc-workers; bench-show (see 5); bench-stop, -strip, a strip of wood or metal fixed on a carpenter's bench to rest his work against; bench-table, a low stone seat on the inside of walls, or round the bases of pillars, in churches, cloisters, etc.; bench test, a test of a motor engine carried out in a workshop before fitting it to a motor body; also transf., preliminary testing of equipment, software, etc.; hence as v. trans., to run a series of tests on (an engine or other equipment), usu. before its public use; bench-testing vbl. n.; bench warmer U.S. slang, a person who sits idle on a bench, esp. a substitute in a sports team; also, any idle or ineffectual person; bench-warrant, one issued by a judge, as opposed to a justice's or magistrate's warrant; bench-winder = bench-key. See also bench-mark, -whistler.

1549 Bale in Cheke's Hurt Sedit. (1641) Pref., These chimney-Preachers, and *bench-Bablers.


1850 J. Smith Rep. Sanit. Condition Hull 17 Forming *bench-beds for the vessels.


1647 Fuller Good Th. Worse T. (1841) 103 As if he made a session or *bench-business thereof.


1881 Mechanic §505 Pins running through the bench leg and *bench cheek respectively.


1552 Huloet, *Benchclothe, or carpet cloth.


1712 Phil. Trans. XXVII. 541 Coal, called *Bench-Coal.


1898 A. Jessopp in 19th Cent. Jan. 56 We get a payment entered for the carving of the *bench-ends in a little church, 500 years ago. 1960 Times 12 Aug. 12/7 This church..is full of interest, with exceptionally attractive poppyhead benchends.


1555 Fardle Facions 19 Whiche dreamed not their knowledge in the *benchehole at home. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. vii. 9 Wee'l beat 'em into Bench-holes. a 1656 Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 231 The stoutest Atheist turnes pale, and is ready to creep into a bench-hole.


1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 236 The *bench-hook is to keep the wood steady. 1888 J. G. Horner Dict. Mech. Engin. 28 Bench hook, a stop for sawing light work on the bench without damaging the bench itself. It is a block of wood about 12 in. long, furnished with a projecting stop at each end placed on opposite faces of a central web. One face of the web being laid on the bench, the lower stop is pressed against the bench edge, while the upper one takes the thrust of the wood which is being cut by the saw.


1901 Daily Chron. 7 May 10/6 Boot trade.—Good *benchman wanted for repairs. 1961 Oxford Mail 5 Oct. 2/2 Benchman required..footwear.


1635 R. Brathwait Arcad. Pr. ii. 13 Thou..sitt'st *Bench-mute with thy decayed braines.


1601 Holland Pliny II. 358 Sufficient bed and *bench-room to rest and repose.


1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 237 The *bench-screw is used to fasten boards between the cheeks, in order to plane their edges.


1874 Forest & Stream 29 Oct. 182/1 The first regular *bench show of dogs. 1887 Harper's Mag. May 934/1 The American bench shows furnish an opportunity to most readers to see the best mastiffs in the country.


1881 Mechanic §464 An ordinary carpenter's bench..with a bench vice and *bench stop.


1849 Freeman Archit. 197 A *bench table along the east wall.


1909 Westm. Gaz. 6 Apr. 4/2 Their..38 h.p. motors which recently underwent a 132 hours' continuous running *bench test at Coventry.


1959 Time 19 Jan. 54/3 By 1922 he was bench-testing in secrecy the world's first liquid-fueled rocket. 1971 Daily Tel. 16 July 7 (Advt.), Thomas Mann benchtests the famous 6-cylinder XK engine. 1984 Which Micro? Dec. 98 (Advt.), Comparisons, bench tests, reviews and answers to all your questions.


1973 Inst. Environm. Sci. Proc. XIX. 24/2 One of the ATS-F spacecraft heat pipes was discovered to have a thin wall, and upon *bench testing (protected), ruptured. 1985 Which Computer? Apr. 5/1 When you think of computer ‘benchtesting’ you probably imagine tens of computer experts performing exhaustive hands-on studies under what amount to laboratory conditions.


1820 T. Mitchell Aristoph. I. 33 My poor *bench-tied countrymen.


1892 N.Y. Sporting Times 9 Jan., The days for ‘*bench warmers’ with salaries are also past. 1978 Washington Post 31 May b11/3 Rivera..is a barely competent bench warmer. Her technical skills are evident.., but an ascetic stance makes her music..dull. 1986 Los Angeles Times 19 Oct. iii. 2/3 He thought about leaving after the 1984 season, his third straight year as a bench-warmer.


1696 Luttrell Brief Rel. IV. 108 A *bench warrant was issued. 1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds xxxii. 514 Another called for the immediate arrest of Brigham on a bench warrant before he could fly the country. 1883 Wharton's Law-Lexicon (ed. 7) 92/1 Bench warrant, an attachment issued by order of a criminal court against an individual..a warrant signed by a judge, or two justices of the peace, to apprehend a prisoner charged with an offence. 1959 Jowitt Dict. Eng. Law I. 225 Bench warrant, a warrant issued by a court of record, sedente curia, for the arrest of a person against whom an indictment for treason, felony or misdemeanour has been found.., if such person does not appear to answer the indictment or articles.


1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 293 *Bench Winder..[is] a key used for winding watches by a watch maker.

    
    


    
     Add: [4.] d. A worktop in a laboratory, etc.
    Earlier with preceding adj. or attrib. n., as work-bench s.v. work n. 34 d, etc.

[1866 A. W. Hoffmann Chem. Labs. Univs. Bonn & Berlin 15 At these working benches, all ordinary chemical work and all operations, not requiring special arrangements provided in other parts of the institution, are carried on.] 1903 T. H. Russell Planning & Fitting-Up of Chem. & Physical Labs. 39 The entire supply of gas and water to each bench should be controlled by stop-cocks at one end of the bench. 1921 A. E. Munby Laboratories ii. 44 Fume pipe for benches or lecture table. 1970 J. Huxley Memories v. 82 Between days of hard work at my bench I explored the exciting neighbourhood. 1977 ‘E. Crispin’ Glimpses of Moon ix. 169 Sir John went to a bench and swept a lot of chemical glassware to one side with a large hand.

II. bench, v.
    (bɛnʃ)
    [f. prec. n.]
    1. trans. To furnish with benches.

c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 98 I-benchede newe with turvis. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 130 This entry [of the pyramid] was..benched on each side. 1729 Savage Wanderer v. v, There, bench'd with turf, an oak our seat extends. 1847 Tennyson Princess ii. 348 Stately theatres Bench'd crescent-wise.

     2. To bank up, bank back. Obs. rare.

1587 Fleming Cont. Holinshed III. 1547/1 Yf there were anie issue or draining of water vnder the wals..they benched it, digging a trench at the foot of that part of the wall, and filling the same with earth.

    3. a. trans. To seat on a bench. b. refl. and intr. To seat oneself, or take a seat, upon a bench.

1605 Shakes. Lear iii. vi. 40 Thou his yoke-fellow of equity, Bench by his side. 1611Wint. T. i. ii. 314 His Cup-bearer, whom I from meaner forme Haue Bench'd, and rear'd to Worship. 1624 Heywood Captives iv. iii. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, The fryar..Hath lyke a surly Justyce bensht himself. 1816 W. Taylor in Month. Mag. XLI. 331 They..bench their weary joints.

    c. trans. To put (a dog) on a show-bench for exhibition; to exhibit at a dog-show.

1891 Times 28 Oct. 11/5 Almost every breed of spaniel is benched. 1898 Standard 1 Dec. 2/6 Possibly the soundest coloured Chow ever benched. 1924 Westm. Gaz. 22 Oct., Among those benched at the Toy Dog Show..will be black-and-tan miniature dogs.

    4. intr. to bench in: to recede in terraced levels.

1737 L. Clarke Hist. Bible vii. (1740) 409 The whole ascent to it was, by the benching in, drawn in a sloping line from the bottom to the top. Ibid., Calling it a Pyramid, because of its..benching in at every Tower.

    5. trans. N. Amer. In Baseball, Football, etc., to remove a player from a game or prevent him from taking part in it. Cf. bench n. 1 c.

1917 C. Mathewson Sec. Base Sloan xvi. 224 Some of you stuffed sausages will be benched mighty quick if you don't wake up. 1947 Harper's Mag. June 560/2, I should have benched him long ago, he got only nineteen hits all season. 1967 Boston Herald 8 May 16/5 Second baseman Woody Woodward, benched because he was in a hitting slump, returned to Atlanta's starting lineup Sunday.

Oxford English Dictionary

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