Đank, banke, bancke

[In A.S banc (1) a bench, (2) a bedstead; benc = a bench, a table; Sw. bank a shelf, a bar: Dan. bænk = a bench, a form, a seat; bank a bench, form, pew, bank, pawnbroker's shop, shelf; Ger. bank , banko ; Dut. bank ; Wel. & Arm. bane, boneq ; Fr. & Prov. banc = a bench, seat, pew, a bank, sand, a border shelf; banque bank, money agency, workman's salary, bench, block; Sp., Port., & Ital. banco a bench, a shop-counter, a bank; Low Lat. banc us = a high seat. Hence it appears that bank and bench were originally the same word.] [BENCH.] A. As substantive: I. Ordinary Language: 11. Of a bench or seat: A bench, a desk, a counter, or anything similar to these in form. specially, one of the benches on which rowers usually sit. "Placed on their banks the lusty Trojans sweep." Waller. 2. Of a house fitted up with such benches or seats; of anything or any person connected with such a building: (a) A counting-house or office fitted up with benches, desks, and counters; specially one for dealing in money. [B.] "... a fairly good demand is maintained at the Bank."- Times, Dec. 28, 1878. (6) The money dealt in at a bank. (c) The persons who deal in it; specially the manager or the directors of the busine . "... the Bank has been able to stem the torrent of currency."- Times , Dec. 28, 1878. (d) The operations carried on the affairs managed. "... the foresight with which the Bank has for some months past been managed."-Times, Dec. 28, 1878. 3. Of anything in nature resembling a bench or seat: (1) A piece of ground rising above the rest, and constituting either a long acclivity or an elevation of some other form. This may be(a) A river-bank. packs of wild dogs may be heard howling on the wooded banks of the le frequented streams."Darwin: Voyage round the World , ch. vi. (b) Any slight eminence or knoll. "With fragrant turf, and flowers as wild and fair As ever dre ed a bank or scented summer air." Cowper: Charity. In East Yorkshire it is used for a hill. ( Prof. Phillips : Rivers, ., of Yorkshire, p. 262.) (c) An eminence rising from the sea-bottom, even though it does not come near the surface, as "the banks of Newfoundland." "And there is no danger of bank or breaker. With the breeze behind us on we go." Long fellow: Golden Legend, v. (2) A cloud or fog shaped like a bench, or like a river-bank or a knoll. a heavy bank bank of clouds.."-Darwin: Voyage round the World, ch. ix. (4) Anything which, made by man, looks like a natural river-bank, eminence, or knoll; specially, a mound of earth or other material thrown up with the view of aiding in the siege of a fortified place. "He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it."- / sa . xxxvii. 33. II. Technically: 1. Law: (a) Originally: The bench on which the judges sat. (b) The whole of the judges, or at least a number of them sitting together, hearing arguments involving questions in subtle points of law, as distinguished from a smaller gathering of them for hearing cases in Nisi Prius. 2. Printing: A flat table used by printers, on which the printed sheets are laid as they come from the pre . 3. Carpentry: A long piece of timber. 4. Comm. & Polit . Econ.: An institution in the hands of a joint-stock company or of a private person, for receiving money, keeping it secure till required again by the owners, and turning it meanwhile to profitable account [BANKING.] 5. Mach .: A creel for holding rows of bobbins of cotton. 6. The floor of a gla -mel.ing furnace. (Knight.) 7. Music : A row of keys of a stringed or wind instrument. ( Knight .) 8. Mining : The face of the coal at which miners are working; the surface of the ground, as in the phrase "so much coal came to bank ." Also, the coal left standing between the excavations is bank . 9. Naut .: A tier of oars in a galley. B. Attributively, as in the following compounds: