▪ I. bank, n.1
(bæŋk)
Forms: (1 ? banca), 3–7 banke, (3 Orm. bannke), 4 bonc, bonkk(e, 4–5 bonke, (5 bunk(e,) 4–6 bonk, 6 banc, banck(e, 3– bank.
[ME. banke, prob. a. Old Norse *banke, *banki = OIcelandic bakki ridge, eminence, bank of clouds, of a river, chasm, etc. (whence Da. bakke, Sw. backe, hillock, hill, rising ground, ascent, acclivity):—OTeut. *bankon-; cogn. with OTeut. *banki-z, see bank2 and bench; the primary sense of bank- being probably ‘shelf,’ natural or artificial, of earth, rock, sand, or wood. The OE. repr. of banki, bakki, would be *banca, *bǫnca: a compound hó(h)banca in sense of ‘heel-bench, couch’ actually occurs once in a vocabulary, but this may be, as the sense suggests, one of the class of weak compounds from strong ns. (cf. ándaga from dæg); in any case the senses of ME. banke, as well as its first appearance in the northern dialect, point to its Scandinavian source.]
I. A raised shelf or ridge of ground, etc.
1. A portion of the surface of the ground raised or thrown up into a ridge or shelf; a lengthened mound with steeply sloping sides. Hence, One side or slope of such a ridge or mound. Now chiefly in hedge-bank.
| c 1200 Ormin 9210 Whærse iss all unnsmeþe get Þurrh bannkess & þurrh græfess. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 521 But flustreden forth as bestes ouer bankes and hilles. a 1400 Cov. Myst. 170 Downe I ley me upone this banke. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 249, I know a banke where the wilde time blowes. Ibid. ii. ii. 40 Finde you out a bed, For I vpon this banke will rest my head. 1596 Spenser F.Q. ii. iii. 6 Sitting ydle on a sunny banck. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. ii. 170 Toyed by each bank and trifled at each stile. 1862 Barnes Rhymes Dorset Dial. I. 22 Yollow cowslip-banks. |
† 2. a. A high ground, height, hill, fell.
Obs. exc. in
north. dial.| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 906 Bydez here by þys blysful bonc. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 14 On mony bonkkes ful brode Bretayn he settez. c 1420 Anturs Arth. iv, To beker at the barrens, in bonkes so bare. |
b. Hence: The slope or acclivity of a hill, a hillside, a brae; a ‘hanger’.
spec. on a railway track. Still common in the north;
cf. up-bank = up-hill.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. Prol. 8 To reste Vnder a brod banke bi a bourne syde. a 1400 Death & Life (Warton) x, And as she came by the bankes, the boughes..lowted to that ladye, and layd forth their branches. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 37 There vas ane grene banc ful of rammel grene treis. 1570 Levins Manip. /24 Banke of an hill, procliuitas. 1631 Stow Chron. 1088 Two hills their euen Bankes doe somewhat seeme to stretch. 1808 Anderson Borrowdale Johnnie, It tuik me nine days and six hours comin up-bank. 1816 Jane Austen Emma iii. vi. 309 A bank of considerable abruptness & grandeur. 1875 J. A. H. Murray Thos. of Erceldoune 2 Thomas, lying on Huntley Banks, sees the lady riding by. 1879 Shropsh. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Bonk, a sloping height. 1893 in Funk's Stand. Dict. 1908 Railway Mag. Feb. 111/1 The fastest work I ever recorded with the same loads up the Hemerdon and Burlescombe banks. |
† 3. An artificial earthwork, an embankment,
esp. for military use.
Obs.| 1535 Coverdale 2 Sam. xx. 15 Beseged him..and made a banke aboute the cite. 1552 Huloet, Banckes defensyue againste subundation called Seabanckes or Sea⁓dickes. 1601 Holland Pliny (1634) I. 59 Fenced on the East-side with the bank or rampier of Tarquinius. 1611 Bible 2 Sam. xx. 15 They cast vp a banke against the city. |
† 4. An ant-hill.
Obs.| 1667 E. King in Phil. Trans. II. 425 If either of the other two sorts be put into the black Ants Bank. 1747 Gould Eng. Ants 76 We suppose a Bank of Hill Ants to amount..to six Thousand. |
5. A shelving elevation in the sea or the bed of a river, rising to or near the surface, composed of sand, mud, gravel, etc. Also a bed of oysters, mussels, or the like.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. vii. 7 But here, vpon this Banke and Schoole of time, Wee'ld iumpe the life to come. 1696 Lond. Gaz. No. 3221/4 Near the Banks of Dunkirk. 1702 Ibid. No. 3842/4 Fish from the Bank of Newfoundland. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1858) 437 The Banks (so they call the place where they catch the fish). 1851 Longfellow Gold. Leg. v. ad fin., No danger of bank or breaker. 1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. iii. ii. 86 Oysters..in vast numbers, forming what are termed Oyster banks. |
6. A long flat-topped mass:
e.g. of cloud or mist stretching above the horizon, of piled-up ice or snow, etc.
| ? a 1626 Bacon Charge 4 (T.) A bank of clouds in the north or west. 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast xxxi. 113 On the starboard bow was a bank of mist. 1848 Kingsley Saint's Trag. iv. 201 A long dim formless fog-bank creeping low. 1860 Fitz-Roy in Merc. Mar. Mag. VII. 342 The first indications of daylight are seen above a bank of clouds. |
7. Mining.
a. ‘The face of the coal at which miners are working.’
b. ‘An ore-deposit or coal-bed worked by surface excavations or drifts above water-level.’ Raymond
Mining Gloss. 1881.
| 1862 Chamb. Jrnl. Apr. 216 The work is continued in one set until the bank is pierced through, and the next strait set is reached. |
II. A bordering slope.
8. a. The shelving or sloping margin of a river or stream; the ground bordering upon a river.
| c 1300 K. Alis. 3495 That he no sank, Til he com to the water bank. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 241 Ouer þe water..fro bank to bank. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 23 Banke of watyr, Ripa. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. i. i. 50 Tyber trembled vnderneath her bankes. 1635 N. Carpenter Geog. Del. ii. ix. 160 Some riuers ouerflow their bankes at some certaine times. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 82 This second bank [of the Jordan] is beset with Bushes and Trees. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. §17. 120 The left bank of the glacier. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 5 Geographers have agreed to call that bank which lies upon your right side as you go down towards the sea the right bank. |
b. fig.| 1576 Fleming tr. Caius' Dogs in Arber Eng. Garner III. 257 Within the banks of his remembrance. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. i. xi. 33 Liberality should as well have banks as a stream. 1665 Glanvill Sceps. Sci. Addr. 13 Like a mighty deluge..beat down all the Banks of Laws, Vertue, and Sobriety. |
c. Phr.
bank and bank (see
quot. 1933).
N.Z.| 1863 S. Butler First Year in Canterbury Settlement vi. 79 Half a dozen times in a year, the river is what is called bank and bank, that is to say, one mass of water from one side to the other. 1933 L. G. D. Acland in Press (Christchurch) 9 Sept. 15/7 Bank and bank. A river runs b. and b. when all the streams join into one; i.e., when in high flood. |
† 9. The sea-coast or shore.
Obs.| c 1350 Will. Palerne 2717 Þe riche cite..vpon þe see bonke. 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. VII. 135 He sette ones..his chaier in þe banke of þe see. c 1400 Destr. Troy vii. 2807 Brode sailes vp braid; bonkis þai leuyt. a 1470 Tiptoft Caesar iii. (1530) 4 The open playne banke of Brytayne. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 437 Fra the West se bank. 1592 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 83 And twice by aukward winde from Englands banke Droue backe againe. |
10. A raised or rising edge or margin of a pond, lake, pit, road, railway cutting, or other hollow place; in
Mining, the surface of the ground at the pit-mouth, or top of the shaft.
| 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 182 The dikes were fulle wide with bankis hie without. c 1400 Destr. Troy xxxii. 12664 When þe prinse was past to þe pit bothum, Þe buernes on þe bonk bet hym with stonys. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 262 The fringed Bank [of a lake]. 1708 J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 32 Horses to draw your Coals to Bank (or Day) out of the Pit. 1722 Wollaston Relig. Nat. ix. 206 Daisies on the banks of the road. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Bank, the ground at the top of a shaft. Ores are brought ‘to bank,’ i.e. ‘to grass.’ 1892 Daily News 11 Mar. 5/7 The preparations which are made at many pits to bring horses and ponies ‘to bank’. |
† 11. spec. (from 8) The south side of the Thames opposite London [also called
Bankside], and the brothel-quarter located there (suppressed in 1546).
| 1536 Remed. Sedition 21 As moche shame for an honest man to come out of a tauerne..as it is here to come from the banke. 1548 Crowley in Strype Eccl. Mem. II. i. xvii. 142 Sisters of the Bank, the stumbling-blocks of all frail youth. 1598 Stow Survey (1633) 448 On this Banke was sometime the Bordello or Stewes. |
12. Aeronaut. The lateral inclination of an aeroplane when turning or rounding a curve.
| 1913 C. Mellor Airman vi. Illustration 29 A left-handed turn with plenty of bank. 1928 C. F. S. Gamble North Sea Air Station xiii. 225 When turning with a heavy bank. 1955 Times 13 July 4/6 The maximum of the bank was about 40 deg. When the bank was jerked off there was a crash and he saw the port wing was gone. |
III. 13. Comb., chiefly
attrib., as
bank-bait, the may-fly;
bank-barn N. Amer. (see
quot. 1909);
bank beaver (see
beaver1 1 b);
bank cress (
Herb.), the Hedge-mustard (
Sisymbrium officinale);
bank-engine, (
a) the engine at a pit's mouth; (
b) a locomotive used to assist in taking a heavy load up a steep incline (
= banker3 5);
bank-fence, one consisting of a bank of earth;
bank-fish, cod from Newfoundland-bank, whence
bank-fisherman,
bank-fishing,
bank-fishery;
bank-harbour, one protected by banks of mud, sand, etc.;
bank-head, a pit's mouth (see 10);
bank-high a., swollen up to the banks;
bank-hook, a large fishing-hook, baited, and attached by a line to the bank of a stream;
bank-jug, the Willow Warbler, or Willow Wren;
bank-manager, the superintendent at a pit's mouth;
bank-martin,
-swallow, the Sand-martin;
bank-smack, a Newfoundland fishing smack.
| 1879 E. P. Wright Animal Life 485 A great many [may⁓flies] fall into the water a prey to fishes... Hence the name *bank-bait. |
| 1894 Congress. Rec. Jan. 1036/1 On my father's farm, when I was a boy, there stood a *big bank-barn. 1906 ‘R. Connor’ Doctor 26 The foundation of the bank-barn. 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl., Bank-barn, a barn built on a hill⁓side or sloping ground, so that three sides of the lower story are surrounded by earth, the fourth being unbanked. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Feb. 31/6 (Advt.), New bank barn 36 × 80, equipped for 38 cows. |
| 1863 Prior Plant-n. 14 *Bank cress, from its growth in hedge banks. |
| 1893 Funk's Stand. Dict., *Bank-engine. |
| 1707 Mortimer Husb. 231 The *Bank-fence is likewise a good shelter for the Land and the Cattle. |
| 1666 Lond. Gaz. No. 79/1 Three prizes, one with *Bankfish. 1705 Ibid. No. 4103/4 Newfoundland *Bank-Fish..equal to the North-Sea Cod. |
| 1782 St. John de Crèvecœur Lett. Amer. Farmer iv. 146 Nantucket is a great nursery of seamen, pilots, coasters, and *bank-fishermen. |
| 1777 in 9th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. iii. II. (1910) 69 Without a large force is sent out to me the *bank fishery is at a stand. 1861 New Amer. Cycl. XII. 302/1 About..80 [vessels are employed] in the coast and bank fisheries. |
| 1797 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 27/1 The *bank fishing season, begins the 10th of May. 1955 Bulletin (Bridgewater, N.S.) 9 Mar. 9/2 A number of fishermen..have gone sealing out of Halifax, or engaged in bank fishing. |
| 1882 Standard 5 Sept. 4/6 The accumulations on the ‘*bank head’ are lower than is usual, and all the collieries are full of orders. |
| 1882 Daily Tel. 28 Oct. 2/4 Streams everywhere are *bank high, and flooded. |
| 1884 Yorksh. Post 9 Jan., A bank manager in London or Liverpool was a very different personage from a *bank manager in Staffordshire or the mining regions generally, where he has to superintend the operations at the pit's mouth. |
| 1774 G. White Selborne lix, The *bank-martin terebrates a round and regular hole in the sand or earth. |
| 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 355 The fishery is carried on..in larger vessels, called *bank-smacks. |
| 1655 Mouffet & Benn. Health's Impr. (1746) 188 Be they either House-Swallows, or *Bank-Swallows. |
▪ II. bank, n.2 (
bæŋk)
Forms: (1
banca), 3
bonck,
baunk, 5–6
banck(e, 6–7
banke, 6–
bank.
[ME. baunk, banck, apparently a. OF. banc ‘bench’ (= Pr. banc, It., Sp., Pg. banco):—late L. bancus bench, ‘scamnum,’ ad. Teut. bank, banc (OS., MHG., MDu. banc, OHG. banch, G., Du. bank):—OTeut. *banki-z bench; cognate with bank n.1:—OTeut. *bankon-. If however OE. hó(h)banca ‘heel-bench, couch, sofa,’ was really a compound of an OE. *banca (see prec.), the ME. word might be the lineal descendant of that, subsequently identified with the Fr. banc. The true native equivalent is bench:—OE. bęnc.] † 1. A long seat for several to sit on, a bench, or form; a platform or stage to speak from.
Obs. (
Cf. mountebank.)
| [a 1050 in Wright Voc. (W.) /280 Sponda, hobanca.] 1205 Lay. 25185 Þa spæc Angel þe king..And stod uppen ane boncke [1250 vp on benche]. 1527 in Pocock Rec. Ref. I. xxvi. 54 Where was prepared a bancke with quyssons and carpets. 1605 B. Jonson Volp. ii. ii. (1616) 467 Fellowes, to mount a banke! Did your instructor..neuer discourse to you Of the Italian mountebankes? 1661 Heylin Hist. Ref. II. iii. 69 Twelve Levites standing on the bank or stage. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) II. 59 A State-Quack, that mounts his Bank in some obscure Nook, and vapours what Cures he could do on the Body politic. |
2. A seat of justice;
= bench.
Bank Royal: King's Bench.
Common Bank: Common Pleas. (
Cf. also
banco n.)
arch. or
Obs.| 1275 Act 3 Edw. I, xlvi, Les Justices al Baunk le Roi & Justices de Baunk a Westm. c 1450 Pol. Poems (1859) II. 228 Fewe can ascape hit of the banck rialle. 1649 Selden Laws of Eng. i. lxvii. (1739) 163 Tryals in the common Bank, or other Courts at Westminster. 1657 Howell Londinop. 368 The Courts and Benches, or Banks of Justices. 1700 Tyrrell Hist. Eng. II. 1109 General days in Bank in real Actions. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. 277 Days in bank, dies in banco, days of appearance in the court of common pleas. |
3. The bench occupied by the rowers of each oar in a galley. (So in
Fr.,
It.,
Ger.)
| 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 169 The gally had..at euery banke or oare seuen men to rowe. 1687 B. Randolph Archipel. 54 Every time that they tugg the oar they rise with their bodys, and fall back on the banks. 1728 Morgan Algiers II. ii. 224 Their Galeot (which had but eighteen Banks on a side). 1855 Singleton Virgil I. 384 Awake, My men, and take your seats upon the banks. |
4. catachr. A rank or tier of oars; used chiefly in reference to the ancient galleys, which had several tiers one above another.
| 1614 Raleigh Hist. World II. v. i. §6. 296 One of the Carthaginian Gallies, of fiue bankes. 1622 Heylin Cosmogr. iv. (1682) 86 Gallies, with two banks of Oars upon a side. 1797 Holcroft Stolberg's Trav. IV. xci. 67 Dionysius supplied his gallies with five banks of rowers. 1807 Robinson Archæol. Græca iv. xiii. 387 Several orders or banks of oars, which..being fixed at the back of each other, ascended gradually in the manner of stairs. 1866 Kingsley Herew. v. 114 Each ship had double banks for twelve oars a side. |
5. a. A row of keys on an organ.
| 1884 Harper's Mag. July 272/1 What an organist would call a ‘bank’ of ivory keys. |
b. A row of keys on a typewriter.
| 1875 [see typewriter 1]. 1959 Chambers's Encycl. XIV. 66/2 The keyboard had four straight rows, or ‘banks’, of eleven keys each. |
† 6. A shelf. (
Cf. G.
bücherbank, etc.)
Obs. rare.
| 1577 Hellowes Gueuara's Ep. 125 A banke of olde bookes. |
7. a. A bench or table used in various trades;
esp. in
Printing, the table on which the sheets are laid before or after printing. (
Cf. It. banco.)
| 1565 Act 8 Eliz. xi. §4 The same Cap [shall] be first well scoured and closed, upon the Bank. 1867 N. & Q. 30 Nov. 432 When a man is about to work a block of stone, he places it upon a stool or stout table..termed a ‘bank.’ |
b. optical bank: an optical bench; a graduated bench, usually of steel, on which the holders of lenses, prisms, etc., may be set up in alignment.
| 1888 Electrician 21 Sept., To order expensive and highly polished optical banks and other apparatus from an instrument maker. |
8. a. The floor of a glass-melting furnace.
b. A pottery.
Cf. pot-bank (
pot n.1 14).
| 1880 C. M. Mason Forty Shires 156 Each manufactory [of pottery] is called a ‘bank.’ 1902 A. Bennett Anna of Five Towns iii. 61 What's amiss with this bank is that it wants pullin' down. 1903 ― Leonora iii. 91 He's somewhere on the bank, sir—speaking to the mouldmaker. |
9. A creel for holding rows of bobbins of cotton.
10. A set of similar pieces of apparatus or units of equipment grouped together. In various
spec. uses:
a. Electr. Lights arranged in rows or tiers.
| 1902 Webster Add., Bank, a group or series of objects arranged near together; as, a bank of electric lamps, etc. 1911 D. S. Hulfish Cycl. Motion-Pict. Work II. 102 A bank of mercury-vapor lamps is suspended from the ceiling. 1935 Discovery Apr. 111/1 ‘Drifting’ news signs, in which a series of letters is caused to drift across the face of a bank of lamps. 1958 Times 24 Sept. 13/4 A huge bank of lights dominates this rebuilt sound stage. |
b. In
Automatic Telephony: a series of fixed contacts in a selector or switch.
| 1904 M. M. Kirkman Telegraph & Telephone ii. iii. 50 The contact banks consist of ten layers of contacts... The top bank is known as the ‘private’ bank, while the two lower banks are called ‘line’ banks. 1922 Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 708/2 Banks of contacts for 200 and 500 [telephone] lines respectively are employed. 1926 Gloss. Electr. Terms (Brit. Engin. Stand.) 174 Wiper, that portion of the moving member of a selector or other similar device which engages with the contacts of a bank. |
▪ III. bank, n.3 (
bæŋk)
Forms: 5–7
banke, 6
bancke, 7
banque,
banck, 7–
bank.
[Early mod.E. banke, a. F. banque, ad. It. banca fem., used side by side, and in same sense, with banco masc.; ad. Teut. bank, banc, bench: see prec. word. The double form and gender in Romanic, cf. It., Sp., Pg. banco, banca, Pr. banc, banca, F. banc, banche, are apparently original (see med.L. bancus, banca, in Du Cange), and due to the double gender of the German: OHG. der, diu banch, MHG. der, die banc, early mod. and dial. G. der, die bank. The original meaning ‘shelf, bench’ (see bank n.1 and n.2, and bench) was extended in It. to that of ‘tradesman's stall, counter, money-changer's table, mensa argentaria, τράπεζα,’ whence ‘money-shop, bank,’ a use of the word which passed, with the trade of banking, from Italy into other countries. In this sense, It. uses both banco and banca, Sp. and Pg. the masc. banco; but in F. the It. fem. banca was adapted as banque, whence Eng. banke, bank. The word is thus ultimately identical with bench and bank2, and cognate with bank1. (Although, in
It.,
monte ‘mount, heap, amount, stock,’ was used in some of the senses of ‘bank,’ the notion that the name
banco,
banca, originated in a German rendering of
monte is erroneous: G.
bank had no such sense as ‘mount, heap,’ only that of ‘bench, shelf.’ Rather is it the fact, that in the development of banking, the
banco of the money-changer, and the
monte or ‘joint-stock capital’ were at length combined, and
bank applied in
Eng. to both.)]
I. A money-dealer's table, counter, or shop.
† 1. The table or counter of a money-changer or dealer in money.
Obs. exc. Hist.| 1567 Jewel Def. Apol. (1611) 462 Christ overthrew the Exchangers bankes, meaning thereby, that there may be no coine in the Church, but only Spirituall. 1584 Fenner Def. Ministers (1587) 98 Christ ouerthrew the exchaungers banckes. 1598 Florio, Banco, a bench, a marchants banke, or counting house, a counter. 1611 Cotgr., Banque, a banke, where money is let out to use: or lent, or returned by exchange: also, the table whereon such money is told. 1846 Arnold Hist. Rome II. xxvii. 72 These established their banks or tables in the forum, like ordinary bankers. |
† 2. The shop, office, or place of business of a money-dealer. (
Cf. banker2 1 a, b.) Now merged in 7 a.
| 1474 Caxton Chesse iii. iv, There was a..chaungeour..A man cam to hym and sayd and affermyd that he had delyueryd in to his banke v hondred floryns of gold to kepe. 1526 Tindale Luke xix. 23 Wherfore then gavest not thou my money into the banke [Gr. τράπεζα; Wyclif, borde; Coverdale, exchaunge Banke]? 1552 Huloet, Bancke of exchaunge, Argentaria. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ii. xi. 21 Exchangers of Money made the temple to be the market and the banke. |
II. An amount or stock of money.
† 3. a. A sum of money, an amount (
It. monte); a ‘pile.’ (
Cf. ‘mounts of coin’ in last
quot.)
Obs.| 1515 Barclay Eglogs i. (1570) A v/3 Where shall I..some little banke procure, That from the bagge and staffe mine age may be sure. 1652 Brome Jov. Crew i. Wks. 358 Cash; which added Unto your former Banck, makes up in all Twelve thousand and odd pounds. 1715 Burnet Own Time (1766) II. 146 He had got a great bank of money to be prepared. 1758 J. Blake Mar. Syst. 68 The..payments will constitute a bank, or nest egg. [Cf. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1753) 128 And bring in Mounts of Coin His Mints to feed, And Banquers (trafics chief suporters) breed.] |
† b. esp. A sum to draw upon.
Obs.| 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. xxiv. 225 S. Paul finds a constant bank for Ministers Maintenance lockt up in a Ceremoniall Law. 1665 S. Bing in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. 310 IV. 24 To extend your charity to the outrunning the bank you honoured me with. |
† c. A batch of paper-money.
Obs. (
exc. Hist.)
| 1878 F. Walker Money xv. 319 In 1738 a Bank of {pstlg}100,000 was issued with new provisions for securing the interest of the mortgages. |
4. In games of hazard, the amount or pile of money which the player who plays against all the others,
e.g. the proprietor of the gaming-table, has before him.
| c 1720 Pope Basset-T. 78 When Kings, Queens, Knaves, are set in decent rank: Expos'd in glorious heaps the tempting Bank. c 1750 H. Walpole in Harper's Mag. July (1884) 258/1 He saw neither the bank nor his own cards. 1850 Thackeray Pendennis lvi. (1884) 548 He had seen his friend..lose eighteen thousand at a sitting, and break the bank three nights running at Paris. 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. vii. 175 It is certainly playing against the bank. |
† 5. An amount made up by the contributions of many; a joint stock or capital.
Obs.| 1625 Bacon Usury, Ess. (Arb.) 545 Let it be no Banke or Common Stocke, but euery Man be Master of his owne Money. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) II. 11 They advance trade whersoever they com; with the banks of mony. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 129 The stock in each man is small, and..individuals would do better to avail themselves of the general bank and capital of nations and of ages. |
† 6. An amount so contributed for lending to the poor; a loan-bank; whence the modern pawn-broker's establishment (
Fr. mont de piété).
Obs.| 1622 Malynes Anc. Law Merch. ii. xiii. 335 In Italie there are Montes pietatis, that is to say, Mounts or Bankes of Charitie, places where great summes of money are by legacies given for reliefe of the poore, to borrow vpon pawnes. 1646 J. Benbrigge Vsura Accom. 3 For their [the poor's] rescue may be collected Mons pietatis, sive charitatis, a Banke of piety or charity..a certaine summe of money, or things..which is laid up for the reliefe of the poore, either by one rich man, or by many. 1659 Torriano Dict., Monte di pietà, a publick stock or bank maintained for the relief of the poor, where pawns may be taken. 1663 Gerbier Counsel E j a, A Bank of Loane in that part of the Suburbs of this great City. |
| fig. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ii. ix. 110 The talent which God hath intrusted to us in the banks of nature and grace. 1704 E. Arwaker Embass. Heav. ix, Is not thy Bank of Blessings yet dismay'd, To Lend, where so unthankfully Repaid? |
III. (Ordinary modern sense.)
7. An establishment for the custody of money received from, or on behalf of, its customers. Its essential duty is the payment of the orders given on it by the customers; its profits arise mainly from the investment of the money left unused by them.
a. Banks (in England) may be divided into—
a. Private Banks, carried on by one or more (in Great Britain not exceeding
ten) persons in partnership.
Cf. sense 2 above.
b. Joint-Stock Banks, of which the capital is subscribed by a large number of shareholders. (
Cf. sense 5 above). Of these the greatest is..
c. The Bank of England, shortly ‘The Bank,’ a corporation of subscribers and contributors to a capital sum of {pstlg}1,200,000, to whom a charter was granted in 1694 (by the name or style of ‘the Governor and Company of the B. of E.’), on condition of their lending that sum to the Government, with certain privileges now no longer existing, or maintained only for the benefit of the State. Its duties are to manage the service of the public debt, to receive and account for the revenue when collected, and to provide and attend to the automatically regulated issue of legal tender notes. Its banking business is of the same nature as that of the other joint-stock or private banks, its chief customer being the Government.
| [Cf. 1526 in 2. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke xix. 23 Haue deliuered foorth my money to the kepers of the banke. c 1590 Marlowe Jew of M. iv. i, In Florence, Venice, Antwerp..Have I debts owing; and..Great sums of money lying in the banco.] 1622 Malynes Anc. Law Merch. i. xx. 131 A Banke is properly a collection of all the readie money of some Kingdome, into the hands of some persons licensed thereunto by publicke authoritie. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) III. vii. §10. 344 The bank of all Greece which he had sent for from Delos. 1849 Saxe Poems, Times 373 Always abundance of gold in the Banks. 1850 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) III. xxx. 397 The temples of the ancient world were the banks in which private possessors deposited their most precious effects. 1876 B. Price Currency & B. 102, I defined a bank to be an institution for the transfer of debts. |
| a. 1694 (title) Brief account of the intended Bank of England. 1720 Swift Irish Manuf. Wks. 1761 III. 14, I cannot forbear saying one word upon a thing they call a bank, which I hear is projecting in this town. 1828 Taylor Money Syst. Eng. 138 The Bank of England had parted with six or eight millions of gold at the current mint price. 1834 J. W. Gilbart Hist. Bank. 95 The number of private country banks, and branches of private banks, in England and Wales is 638. 1881 H. H. Gibbs Double Standard 69 The result would really be..that the Bank would always hold both Silver and Gold bullion. |
b. bank of deposit, a bank that receives lodgements of money.
bank of issue or circulation, a bank which issues its own notes or promises to pay; in Great Britain a bank to which the right of issue was continued by the Acts of 1844–45.
branch bank, a branch-office of a bank, established to give banking facilities to a locality at a distance from the head-office.
savings-bank, a bank of which the express object is to take charge of the savings of the poorer classes, or of small sums of money.
| 1834 J. W. Gilbart Hist. Bank. 109 The establishment of branch banks may be considered as the effect of the formation of joint-stock banks. Ibid. 133 Similar accusations may be as justly advanced against banks of deposit as against banks of circulation. 1863 Haydn Dict. Dates 67 The branch banks of the Bank of England in the chief towns of the kingdom..have all been formed since 1828. |
c. fig.| 1642 Rogers Naaman 543 As affliction is a furnace, so is it a banque: Job had twice as much after he had lost all as before. a 1716 Louth (J.) Pardons and indulgences..out of the common bank and treasury of the church. |
d. in bank: in a bank or the bank, at one's bankers'. Also
fig.: in store.
| 1563 Homilies ii. xi. i. (1850) 387 He which sheweth mercy to the poore doth lay his money in banke to the Lord. 1622 Malynes Anc. Law Merch. ii. xi. 335 The paiments by Assignement in Banke without handling of moneys. 1646 Evance Noble Order 13 The benefits..in hand, besides the blessings that are in banck. a 1747 S. Cibber Let. in D. Garrick Private Corresp. (1831) I. 50 She is the greatest coquet in England, and has half-a-dozen husbands in bank, in case of your death. 1753 Whitefield in Scots Mag. May 214/1 The young man has the balance in bank. 1844 Knickerbocker XXIII. 14 [She] claimed..among her chattels sundry shares in bank. 1902 O. Wister Virginian xxiii. 273 Take my land away to-morrow, and I'd still have my savings in bank. |
e. Phr.
in the Bank (see
quot. 1930).
| 1930 M. Clark Home Trade xxix. 234 In the language of the Money Market, money becomes tight and, maybe, the loans available from the banks are insufficient to go round. Then the assistance of the Bank of England is sought and the Money Market is said to be ‘in the Bank’. 1955 Times 30 June 16/7 Credit was tighter in Lombard Street yesterday, and one or two houses were ‘in the Bank’ for a very small amount. |
f. transf. A store of things for future use, a reserve supply:
spec. of blood for transfusion, tissue for grafting, or the like.
Cf. blood-bank (
s.v. blood n. 21),
eye bank (
s.v. eye n.1 28).
orig. U.S.| 1938 Life 28 Feb. 33/2 The bank maintains a postive balance of blood. 1944 Reader's Digest XLV. 25 (title) Banks for Human ‘Spare Parts’. 1945 Ann. Reg. 1944 379 Nerve ‘banks’ for the supply of quick frozen and dried nerve fragments for nerve grafts were developed. 1947 Lancet 12 Apr. 493/2 The value of a bone bank. 1959 Times 13 Mar. 15/2 A foetal tissue bank is being established at the Royal Marsden Hospital, comparable to the eye banks. 1963 Times 16 Feb. 9/2 We must be prepared for the day when ‘banks’ of different organs..will be integral parts of all major hospitals. |
g. Catch-phr.
to laugh, etc., (orig. to cry) all the way to the bank: to relish (
orig. ironically, to deplore) the fact that one is making money,
esp. undeservedly or at the expense of others.
| 1956 Daily Mirror 26 Sept. 6/4 On the occasion in New York at a concert in Madison Square Garden when he had the greatest reception of his life and the critics slayed him mercilessly, Liberace said: ‘The take was terrific but the critics killed me. My brother George cried all the way to the bank.’ 1959 Times 9 June 14/7 He [sc. Liberace] agreed that the expression: ‘I cried all the way to the Bank’ had become a standard gag of his. He used it to reply to critics who did not like his performances. 1969 Listener 2 Jan. 17/3, I thought: ah no, this isn't right at all people will laugh at me. Then I said: better laugh all the way to the bank than just be laughed at. 1973 W. V. Liberace Autobiogr. ii. 28 When the reviews are bad I tell my staff that they can join me as I cry all the way to the bank. All this crying ‘all the way to the bank’ is not intended to give the idea that I'm just in this business to make a living. 1977 Zigzag Aug. 22/2 Look at Screaming Lord Sutch for example, or Alice Cooper gibbering all the way to the bank. 1985 National Trust Midsummer 22/2 The taxpayer may be called in to ‘save’ it [sc. a great house] for the nation. Then the owner laughs all the way to the bank, and the devil can take his conscience. |
8. Comb.:
a. attrib. or
obj. genitive, as
bank-account,
bank-accountant,
bank-building,
bank-charter,
bank-clerk,
bank-coffer,
bank-counter,
bank-deposit,
bank-depositor,
bank-director,
bank-manager,
bank-master (
obs.),
bank-monger,
bank-president,
bank-robber,
bank-robbery,
bank-snatcher.
| 1799 C. B. Brown A. Mervyn iv. 39 Have I not seen his bank account. His deposits..amount to not less than half a million. 1929 D. H. Lawrence Pansies 33 With bank accounts and insurance policies Don't sympathise. |
| 1834 J. W. Gilbart Hist. Bank. 30 In 1708 the Bank charter was extended or renewed until the expiration of twelve months. |
| 1803 Edin. Rev. II. 103 The bank-coffers are drained of gold. |
| 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. (1858) 526 Behind the bank-counter. |
| 1832 Chambers's Edinb. Jrnl. I. 186/1 After exhausting his bank deposits, he still felt himself in difficulties. 1940 G. Crowther Outl. Money ii. 40 The ordinary bank depositor keeps all his money in the bank and makes his daily payments out of it. |
| 1828 Taylor Money Syst. Eng. 193 That the bank directors be required to pay their notes on demand in gold at the market price. |
| 1860 Trollope Framley P. xlii. 151 The bank manager from Barchester. |
| c 1618 Fletcher Pilgr. i. 51 Rogues and Beggars have got the trick now to become Banckmasters. |
| 1814 Jefferson Let. 24 Jan. in Writings (1854) VI. 305, I was derided as a maniac by the tribe of bank-mongers. |
| 1853 Harper's Mag. Jan. 193 As if some invalid clergyman or bank-president, in white cravat, wished sedately to have his carriage called. |
| 1799 Aurora (Philad.) 15 Mar. (Th.), Groups of pickpockets, bank-robbers, and hen-pecked dotards. 1894 Nisbet Bush Girl's Rom. 277 Wildrake was the real criminal and bank-robber. |
| 1854 Dickens Hard T. iii. viii. 339, I have suspected young Mr. Tom of this bank-robbery from the first. 1890 Harper's Mag. Feb. 472 One of the most daring bank snatchers in the city effected two robberies in the course of a single day. |
b. Special combinations:
bank annuities, a technical term for certain British government funds; usually, the Consolidated 3 per
cent. Annuities, or ‘consols’;
bank balance, the net amount held by a depositor in a bank account;
bank card,
bankcard, a cheque card or credit card issued by a bank (
cf. banker's card s.v. banker2 1 c); also, a cashpoint card;
bank charge, a fee debited by a bank to a customer's current account for each transaction it carries out on the customer's behalf, and for certain other services;
usu. in
pl.;
bank-cheque, a cheque or order to pay issued upon a bank;
bank-circulation, a name applied to receipts given by the Bank of England to contributors to the loan made to the Government in 1751, which circulated as paper currency;
bank-clerk, a clerk (see
clerk n. 6 b) in a bank; hence
bank-clerkly adj.;
bank-court, the weekly meeting of the Governor and Directors of the Bank of England, or other joint-stock bank;
also, the general court of proprietors;
bank-credit, a credit opened for any person by a correspondent of a bank, to enable the former to draw for the amount;
bank-money (
cf. banco a.);
also, money in the bank;
bank-paper, (
a) bank-notes in circulation; bills of exchange accepted by a banker; (
b) (see
quot. 1888);
bank-parlour, the court-room of the Bank of England; the room in which a banker or bank-manager does business with borrowers;
bank-post, a kind of writing-paper used for foreign correspondence;
bank-rate, (
a) the rate per
cent. per annum fixed from time to time by the Bank of England, at which the company is prepared to discount bills of exchange having not more than 95 days to run; replaced in October 1972 by
minimum lending rate (see
minimum a. b); (
b)
loosely, any rate of interest charged by a bank;
bank-receipt,
formerly, a receipt given by the Bank of England on its formation, for money deposited to be drawn against;
now, an acknowledgement given by a banker for money deposited on a current account;
bank-roll U.S., a roll of bank-notes; hence as
v. trans. colloq., to support financially;
bank statement, a record supplied periodically or on request by a bank to an account-holder, showing all credits and debits over a given period, and the current balance of the account;
bank-stock, the capital stock of the Bank of England, being the aggregate of the shares therein owned by the various proprietors; its original amount was {pstlg}1,200,000; it is now {pstlg}14,553,000;
bank-token, a token issued by a bank to serve for payments, on its responsibility, during a scarcity of silver coin;
bankward a. and adv., towards the bank. See also
bank-bill, -book, -holiday, -note.
| 1931 H. Crane Let. 10 Jan. (1965) 363 A *bank balance sufficient at least to my carfare east again. 1986 Los Angeles Times 8 Aug. vi. 28/3 ‘We started January, 1984, with no bank balance, some assets, some experience, a small, dedicated staff and 1,000 subscribers,’ Thoman said. |
| 1970 New Scientist 23 July 181/1 Development of existing *bank cards—including both cheque guarantee cards and credit cards..—will play a major role in the advance towards a ‘cashless and chequeless society’. 1973 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 14 Nov. 19/7 Each bank participating in the scheme will issue the same uniformly designed ‘bankcard’ with its own bank name appearing on the back. 1980 N.Y. Times Mag. 13 July 27 He..sticks his plastic bank card in the slot... And..a series of bills slides out. 1983 Truckin' Life Oct. 45/1 The drivers can obtain fuel by using a special plastic credit card..issued by Amoco. These cards..are similar to any bankcards..and work on the same principle. |
| 1885 G. Rae Country Banker xix. 138 (heading) *Bank charges. 1923 Jrnl. Inst. Bankers XLIV. 113 If a profit and loss account is to show a correct view of a trader's or manufacturer's affairs, it should include the bank charges and allowances which have accrued up to the date of the account. 1986 Economist 3 May 94/1 As interest rates decline, watch out for more redundancies among bank staff and more automated tellers. Bank charges will also go up. |
| 1803 Jefferson in Harper's Mag. Mar. (1885) 541/2, I enclose you a *bank-check for twenty-two and a half dollars. |
| 1753 Scots Mag. May 262/1 *Bank-circulation 2l. 15s. prem. 1834 J. W. Gilbart Hist. Bank. 38 In 1751, in order to raise the sum promised to be lent to the Government, the bank established what was called ‘Bank Circulation.’ |
| 1829 Harlequin 13 June 35 This burlesque was written by Mr. Rhodes, who was ‘only a *bank-clerk’. 1859 Sala Tw. round Clock 42 From sober Hackney, and Dalston, and Kingsland, bank-clerk beloved. 1920 E. Pound H. S. Mauberley 19 But in Ealing With the most bank-clerkly of Englishmen? 1959 Listener 23 July 153/3 The same sort of boyish fun—or bank-clerkly humour—induced inordinate pleasure [etc.]. |
| 1752 Hume Balance of Trade, Ess. (1817) I. 318 An invention of this kind, which was fallen upon some years ago by the banks of Edinburgh..called a *Bank-Credit. |
| 1636 Healey Theophrast. 79 He, that boastes upon the Exchange, that he hath store of *banke mony. |
| 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) II. i. iii. 17 A ducat which passes for seven marks current, is worth but six bank money. |
| Ibid. vii. 35 He sells his bank-money for current money. |
| 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 411 They imagine that our flourishing state in England is owing to that *bank-paper, and not the bank-paper to the flourishing condition of our commerce. 1888 C. T. Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 6 Bank paper, a thin paper mostly used for foreign letter or note paper to save cost of postage. |
| 1859 Sala Tw. round Clock 160 Tremendous bank-partners..pay a farewell visit to the *bank parlour. |
| 1884 Lisbon (Dakota) Clipper 30 Oct. /3 The caution which has prevailed..in bank parlors is not at all relaxed. |
| 1854 C. Tomlinson Cycl. Useful Arts II. 369/1 Names, dimensions, and weight per ream of Writing and Drawing Papers... *Bank post 19 by 151/4 [inches] 7 [lb.]. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. III. 397 The ordinary Saxe paper will answer very well, as will also..Bank-post. |
| 1876 Fawcett Pol. Econ. iii. vi. 361 The *Bank-rate of discount, is the measure, at any particular time, of the value of money. 1972 Daily Tel. 10 Oct. 17/2 Bank rate is no more. As from Friday..[it] will be superseded by a new rate linked by a direct formula to market rates. 1974 Latin Amer. 1 Mar. 67/1 Colombia: The government has raised bank rates from 14 to 16 per cent in an effort to control the rate of inflation. 1986 Today 23 Aug. 27 Base rate 10.0%. Bank overdraft rate Authorised 15.0–17%... All Bank rates supplied by Midland Bank. |
| 1703 Lond. Gaz. No. 3902/4 A *Bank Receipt..promising to be accountable to John Radhams for 4 Notes for 50l. each. |
| 1887 Courier-Jrnl. (U.S.) 23 Jan. 5/3 One night a well-dressed stranger went over and won the *bank roll. 1928 J. P. McEvoy Showgirl vii. 106 That's the one Milton wants to bankroll, isn't it? 1938 Amer. Speech XIII. 196 Bank⁓rolling. 1944 D. Runyon R. à la Carte (1946) vi. 92, I am not able to bank-roll you to a very large start. 1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 30 Oct. 628/4 He was the big banker of New York crime; he kept the bankroll. 1959 J. R. Macdonald Galton Case (1960) xxi. 165 Who's bankrolling you? Dr. Howell? 1967 Boston Sunday Herald 26 Mar. iv. 5/4 The network has..bankrolled the Broadway production of ‘My Fair Lady’. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) Mag. 17 Feb. 9/2 An angry Texan is said to have bet his $45,000 bank roll that Jowett couldn't do it. |
| 1916 W. H. Kniffin Pract. Work of Bank (ed. 2) x. 318d The bookkeeping machine for *bank statements. 1959 Which? vi. 58/2 At the end of the report, we give the analysis of thirty-four bank statements generously sent us by our members. 1986 Economist 29 Mar. 67/3 Brazilian banks offer..such perks (to their bigger customers) as bank statements delivered daily to their offices. |
| 1705 Hickeringill Priest-cr. i. (1721) 9 The Market Price varies as does the *Bank Stock. |
| 1710 Addison Tatler No. 243 ¶6 How went Bank-Stock to Day at 'Change? |
| 1812 Examiner 21 Sept. 607/2 Convicted of uttering 3s. *Bank-tokens, knowing them to be false. |
| 1865 Pall Mall G. 13 Nov. 3 In the full tide of one's *bank-ward voyage. |
▸
bank loan n.| 1721 J. Armour Proposals for Restoring Credit 24 *Bank Loans should bear Interest after the rate of 4 per Cent. 1839 Times 25 Dec. 5/4 The gigantic cotton speculations..were founded on and kept pace with..bank loans. 1940 Economist 5 Oct. 431/2 The liberalisation of bank loans..left unresolved the problem of the bad..credit. 2005 Digit Oct. 36/2 In a high-risk market sector, getting..a bank loan is close to impossible. |
▪ IV. bank, v.1 (
bæŋk)
[f. bank n.1] I. 1. trans. To form a bank to; to border, edge, hem in as a bank.
| 1590 Greene Neuer too Late (1600) 23 A silent streame..Banckt about with choyce of flowers. 1727 Thomson Summer 660 Burning sands, that bank the shrubby vales. 1801 Southey Thalaba v. xxii, A ridge of rocks that bank'd its side. |
† 2. intr. To border
upon.
Obs.| 1598 Stow Surv. vii. (1603) 68 The next Tower or Castle, banckiting [sic] also on the riuer of Thames. Ibid. xxxviii. (1603) 336 This Castle banketh on the River Thames. |
3. trans. To confine within a bank. Also
fig.| 1622 Callis Stat. Sewers (1647) 70 Kept and preserved by banking and new fencing in. 1662 Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 388 The prince and people..Both being bank'd in their respective station. 1883 Eng. Illust. Mag. Nov. 75/1 The river is banked high on either side. |
4. Watchmaking:
a. trans. To confine the movements of the escapement, which is the function of the two banking-pins in a watch.
b. intr. To impinge against the banking-pins; said of the escapement (or of the watch).
| 1765 Ludlam in Phil. Trans. LV. 207 The brass pin..is for the other arm of the beam to bank against. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 20 The escapement may be banked through the spring. Ibid. 74 If the watch persistently banks, it is an indication that the balance is too light. |
II. † 5. To coast, to skirt.
Obs.| 1595 Shakes. John v. ii. 104, I haue bank'd their Townes? |
6. To bring ashore, to land.
| 1873 G. C. Davies Mount. & Mere ii. 11 Scarcely giving a flap of the tail till they were banked. |
7. To shelter under a bank.
| 1865 W. White E. Eng. I. 110 As decoy men say, they are then comfortably banked. |
III. 8. a. trans. To heap or pile
up. Also
fig.| 1712 J. James tr. Dézallier d'Argenville's Gardening ii. ii. 111 You bank it up by causing Earth to be laid about the Foot of it. 1833 H. Martineau Charmed Sea iv. 59 They had banked up the snow. 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton xxiii. 317 The clouds had got banked up in great billows of vapour. 1920 Round Table Dec. 88 The steady march of Russia eastwards, and her threat to..the independence and future of Japan was rapidly banking up the clouds of war. |
b. spec. To pile up (logs) at a landing, etc., for transport by water or rail.
U.S. and
Canada.
| 1856 Trans. Mich. Agric. Soc. VII. 828 There will be logs enough cut and ‘banked’ for 100,000,000 feet of lumber. We are informed that the amount now banked daily, will amount to 2,500,000 feet. 1888 B.C. Moon 21 Apr., Wright & Davis..have purchased the logs banked at West Superior. 1904 S. E. White Blazed Trail Stories iii. 40 The firm agreed to pay..for all saw-logs banked at a rollway. |
9. intr. (for
refl.) To rise
up into banks. Also, to pile
up, accumulate. Also
absol.| 1870 Daily News 28 Dec., The smoke..was still banking up in large clouds. 1883 Black in Harper's Mag. Dec. 69/2 Clouds begin to bank up. 1889 Good Words Mar. 154/1 The driven snow was now banking itself up in wreaths. 1889 E. Randolph New Eve I. i. 40 The fleecy clouds..are already banking to prepare the sun his couch. 1922 Glasgow Herald 24 Nov. 9 Imagine..a gravelled roadway flanked by redcoats, and a crowd banking and shelving on both sides. 1955 Times 24 May 19/4 The six months' gap..had allowed the traffic to bank up. |
10. To make up a fire, by covering it with a heap of fuel so pressed down that it will remain a long time burning slowly. Also
to bank down (example is
fig.).
| 1860 Merc. Mar. Mag. VII. 330 The fires had been banked. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. ii. 277 Fire carefully banked up with damp cinders. 1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers 82 His fires of wrath are banked down. |
11. to bank out: to empty out (coal as drawn from the pit) into a heap.
| 1851 in Coal-tr. Terms Northumbld. & Durh. 6. |
12. trans. a. To ascend (an inclined surface).
b. To cause to travel an ascending track; also in
vbl. n. (
attrib. in
banking engine = bank-engine,
bank n.1 13).
| 1892 Livestock Jrnl. Alm. 34 They ascended a steep hill, banking field after field to a flag-post at the top. 1908 Model Engineer & Electr. 11 June 570 Where banking engines are employed for assisting trains on inclines. Ibid., Wherever banking assistance is taken. Ibid., The practice of banking trains out of Euston, up the Camden incline. |
13. trans. In
Aeronautics, to tilt (an aeroplane) sideways in turning. Also
intr., to incline sideways in turning. Also with
up.
| 1911 Grahame-White & Harper Aeroplane 133 He ‘banked’ his biplane over too sharply. 1913 C. Mellor Airman vi. 29 We swung round left-handed and the machine ‘banked’ up to the right. 1920 Blackw. Mag. July 72/2 Adam Smythe..then banked left-handed towards Delhi Fort. |
▪ V. bank, v.2 [f. bank n.3] 1. intr. To keep a bank, act as a banker. (Chiefly in
ppl. adj. and
vbl. n., as in
banking-house, etc.)
| 1727–51 Chambers Cycl., Banker, a person who banks, that is, negotiates and trafficks in money. 1912 E. V. Lucas Wand. in Florence v. 60 Giovanni [de' Medici] had been a banker before everything, Cosimo an administrator... Lorenzo continued to bank but mismanaged the work and lost heavily. |
2. intr. To deposit money or keep an account with a banker.
| 1833 H. Martineau Berkeley i. i. 4 A man who brings a splendid capital, and will, no doubt, bank with us at D―. 1880 Howells Undisc. Country vi. 103 You'll have to bank with me to the extent of tickets home. |
3. trans. To deposit in a bank. Also, to convert into current money, ‘realize.’
| 1838 Actors by Daylight I. 55 After having ‘banked’ their cash. 1864 Sala in Daily Tel. 11 Oct., Those who have..banked their greenbacks. 1868 Daily News 2 Sept., If parliament were to bank this whole estate. |
4. a. intr. To form a ‘bank’ at a gaming-table; to play against all comers.
| 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey v. xiii. 239 The plan will be for two to bank against the table. |
b. To ‘put one's money’
upon; to count or rely
on with confidence or assurance. Also
const. that.
colloq. (
orig. U.S.).
| 1884 Nye Baled Hay 127 The man who ranks as a dignified snoozer, and banks on winning wealth and a deathless name. 1892 Congress. Rec. Apr., App. 249/2, I am not banking heavily on [him]..as an honest man. 1898 Sun (N.Y.) 14 Sept., The Democrats are banking upon this movement to help them out this fall. 1903 A. Adams Log Cowboy vi. 79, I was banking plenty strong, that next year..I'd take her home with me. 1910 W. M. Raine B. O'Connor 58 The one friend you would have banked on to a finish. 1949 Dodie Smith I capture Castle i. ix. 152 ‘Don't bank on things too much,’ I begged. ‘Simon may not have the faintest idea of proposing.’ |
5. trans. To store (blood, tissue, or the like) for future use.
orig. U.S. Cf. bank n.3 7
f.| 1938 Life 28 Feb. 33/2 Here you see how blood is taken in, banked and given out. 1963 Guardian 17 July 1/1 Aortic heart valves from young victims of road crashes are being ‘banked’ by a team of doctors to replace those of older people. |