BANK

Definitions

1. 1. A mound, pile, or ridge of earth, raised above the surrounding level; hence, anything shaped like a mound or ridge of earth; as, a bank of clouds; a bank of snow. They cast up a bank against the city. 2 Sam. xx. 15.
2. 2. A steep acclivity, as the slope of a hill, or the side of a ravine.
3. 3. The margin of a watercourse; the rising ground bordering a lake, river, or sea, or forming the edge of a cutting, or other hollow. Tiber trembled underneath her banks. Shak.
4. 4. An elevation, or rising ground, under the sea; a shoal, shelf, or shallow; as, the banks of Newfoundland.
5. 5. The face of the coal at which miners are working.
6. 6. A deposit of ore or coal, worked by excavations above water level.
7. 7. The ground at the top of a shaft; as, ores are brought to bank. Bank beaver (Zoöl.), the otter. [Local, U.S.] -- Bank swallow, a small American and European swallow (Clivicola riparia) that nests in a hole which it excavates in a bank.