I. bank 1 S1 W1 /bæŋk/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Sense 1,3,7: Date: 1400-1500 ; Language: French ; Origin: banque , from Old Italian banca 'long seat, bank' ]
[ Sense 2,4,6,8: Date: 1100-1200 ; Origin: Probably from a Scandinavian language. ]
[ Sense 5: Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: banc 'long seat' ]
1 . PLACE FOR MONEY
a) a business that keeps and lends money and provides other financial services
in the bank
We have very little money in the bank.
Barclays Bank
a bank loan
b) a local office of a bank:
I have to go to the bank at lunch time.
⇨ ↑ clearing bank , ↑ merchant bank
2 . RIVER/LAKE land along the side of a river or lake
bank of
the banks of the River Dee
the river bank
3 . blood/sperm/organ bank a place where human blood etc is stored until someone needs it
4 . CLOUDS/MIST a large mass of clouds, mist etc:
a fog bank
bank of
banks of mist
5 . RAISED AREA a large sloping mass of earth, sand, snow etc:
She was sitting on a grassy bank.
bank of
steep banks of snow
banks of flowers
6 . MACHINES a large number of machines, television screens etc arranged close together in a row
bank of
banks of TV monitors
7 . GAME a supply of money used to ↑ gamble , that people can win ⇨ break the bank at ↑ break 1 (24)
8 . be makin' bank American English spoken informal to earn a lot of money for the work that you do:
Check out Omar’s new car. The brother must be makin' bank.
9 . ROAD a slope made at a bend in a road or ↑ racetrack to make it safer for cars to go around
⇨ ↑ bottle bank , ↑ food bank , ↑ memory bank
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ go to the bank
I went to the bank and took out $80.
▪ borrow from a bank
You may be able to borrow some money from the bank.
▪ a bank lends something
The bank lent me £10,000 to help me start the business.
■ bank + NOUN
▪ a bank account
How much do you have in your bank account at the moment?
▪ your bank balance (=the actual amount that you have in your bank account)
I'm just going to check my bank balance online.
▪ a bank card
You can withdraw money using your bank card.
▪ bank charges
Will I have to pay bank charges on this account?
▪ a bank clerk (=a junior worker in a bank)
He began his career as a bank clerk.
▪ a bank loan
What's the interest rate on your bank loan?
▪ a bank note (=a piece of paper money)
a $10 bank note
▪ a bank statement (=a written statement of how much you have in a bank account)
I get a written bank statement once a month.
▪ a bank manager
Could I make an appointment with the bank manager, please?
▪ a bank robber/robbery
The bank robbers were never caught.
■ types of bank
▪ a high street bank (=one of the ordinary banks that most people use)
There's a lot of competition between the major high street banks.
▪ a commercial bank (=an ordinary bank, or one that deals with large businesses)
the role of UK commercial banks in the debt crisis
▪ an investment/merchant bank (=one that buys and sells stocks and shares etc)
Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank
▪ a savings bank (=a bank that accepts your savings and provides mortgages)
▪ a clearing bank (=one of the banks in Britain that uses a clearing house when dealing with other banks)
large commercial customers of the clearing banks
▪ a central bank (=the main financial authority in a country)
The Bundesbank is the central bank of Germany.
▪ the World Bank (=an international organization providing financial help to developing countries)
The road building was funded by the World Bank.
II. bank 2 BrE AmE verb
1 . MONEY
a) [transitive] to put or keep money in a bank:
Did you bank that check?
b) [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] to keep your money in a particular bank
bank with
Who do you bank with?
bank at
I’ve always banked at First Interstate.
2 . PLANE [intransitive] if a plane banks, it slopes to one side when turning:
The plane banked, and circled back toward us.
3 . PILE/ROWS ( also bank up ) [transitive] British English to arrange something into a pile or into rows:
Snow was banked up on either side of the road.
4 . CLOUD/MIST ( also bank up ) [transitive] to form a mass of cloud, mist etc:
Banked clouds promised rain.
5 . FIRE ( also bank up ) [transitive] to cover a fire with wood or coal to keep it going for a long time:
Josie banked up the fire to last till morning.
bank on somebody/something phrasal verb
to depend on something happening or someone doing something SYN count on
bank on (somebody) doing something
I was banking on being able to get some coffee on the train.