Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BANK, n. [Sax. banc; D. and G. bank; Sw. banck; Dan. banke; It. banco; Sp. and Port. banca, banco; Fr. banc, banque; W. banc; Arm. bancq; Ar. بنق bank, a bench. Bank and bench are radically the same word. The sense is, that which is set, laid or extended. Applied to a mass of earth, it is a collection, that which is thrown or laid together.]

1. A mound, pile or ridge of earth, raised above the surrounding plain, either as a defense or for other purposes. – 2 Sam. xx. 15.
2. Any steep acclivity, whether rising from a river, a lake, or the sea, or forming the side of a ravine, or the steep side of a hillock on a plain. When we speak of the earth in general adjoining a lake or the sea, we use the word shore; but a particular steep acclivity on the side of a lake, river, or the sea, is called a bank.
3. A bench, or a bench of rowers, in a galley; so called from their seat. Placed on their banks, the lusty Trojans sweep. – Waller.
4. By analogy, a collection or stock of money, deposited, by a number of persons, for a particular use; that is, an aggregate of particulars, or a fund; as, to establish a bank, that is a joint fund.
5. The place where a collection of money is deposited; a common repository of the money of individuals or of companies; also, a house used for a bank.
6. A company of persons concerned in a bank, whether a private association, or an incorporated company; the stockholders of a bank, or their representatives, the directors, acting in their corporate capacity.
7. An elevation, or rising ground, in the sea; called also flats, shoals, shelves or shallows. These may rise to the surface of the water or near to it; but the word bank signifies also elevated ground at the bottom of the sea, when many fathoms below the surface; as, the banks of Newfoundland.