: a group or series of objects arranged together in a row or a tier
a bank of vending machines
: such as
a
: a set of elevators
b
: a row or tier of telephones
worked at a phone bank calling potential donors
2
journalism: one of the horizontal and usually secondary or lower divisions of a headline
reading the bank of the headline
Phrases
bank on
: to depend or rely on
can always bank on her friendship
Did you know?
The literal meaning of Italian banca was “bench,” but the word was also used for the benchlike counter at which an early money changer transacted business, and later to describe the money changer’s shop itself—the bank. When the banking trade spread from Italy to France, and then to England, the Italian word went with it and became our English bank.
Middle English, probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse bakki bank; akin to Old English benc bench — more at bench
Noun (2) and Verb (2)
Middle English, from Middle French or Old Italian; Middle French banque, from Old Italian banca, literally, bench, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English benc
Noun (3)
Middle English banc bench, from Anglo-French, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English benc