BENCH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Bench mean? 

• BENCH (noun)
  The noun BENCH has 7 senses:

1. a long seat for more than one person

2. a level shelf of land interrupting a declivity (with steep slopes above and below)

3. persons who administer justice

4. a strong worktable for a carpenter or mechanic

5. the magistrate or judge or judges sitting in court in judicial capacity to compose the court collectively

6. the reserve players on a team

7. (law) the seat for judges in a courtroom

  Familiarity information: BENCH used as a noun is common.

• BENCH (verb)
  The verb BENCH has 2 senses:

1. take out of a game; of players

2. exhibit on a bench

  Familiarity information: BENCH used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BENCH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A long seat for more than one person

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("bench" is a kind of...):

seat (furniture that is designed for sitting on)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bench"):

banquette (an upholstered bench)

flat bench (a bench on which a weightlifter lies to do exercises)

park bench (a bench in a public park)

penalty box ((ice hockey) an enclosed bench to the side of an ice-hockey rink for players who are serving time penalties)

church bench; pew (long bench with backs; used in church by the congregation)

prie-dieu (low bench for kneeling on)

settee; settle (a long wooden bench with a back)

window seat (a bench or similar seat built into a window recess)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A level shelf of land interrupting a declivity (with steep slopes above and below)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

bench; terrace

Hypernyms ("bench" is a kind of...):

plateau; tableland (a relatively flat highland)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Persons who administer justice

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

bench; judiciary

Hypernyms ("bench" is a kind of...):

administration; brass; establishment; governance; governing body; organisation; organization (the persons (or committees or departments etc.) who make up a body for the purpose of administering something)

Holonyms ("bench" is a member of...):

authorities; government; regime (the organization that is the governing authority of a political unit)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A strong worktable for a carpenter or mechanic

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

bench; work bench; workbench

Hypernyms ("bench" is a kind of...):

work table; worktable (a table designed for a particular task)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bench"):

lab bench; laboratory bench (a workbench in a laboratory)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The magistrate or judge or judges sitting in court in judicial capacity to compose the court collectively

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("Bench" is a kind of...):

assembly (a group of persons who are gathered together for a common purpose)

Holonyms ("Bench" is a part of...):

court; judicature; tribunal (an assembly (including one or more judges) to conduct judicial business)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The reserve players on a team

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Context example:

our team has a strong bench

Hypernyms ("bench" is a kind of...):

subgroup (a distinct and often subordinate group within a group)

Meronyms (members of "bench"):

reserve; second-stringer; substitute (an athlete who plays only when a starter on the team is replaced)

Holonyms ("bench" is a part of...):

squad; team (a cooperative unit (especially in sports))

Derivation:

bench (take out of a game; of players)

Sense 7

Meaning:

(law) the seat for judges in a courtroom

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("bench" is a kind of...):

seat (furniture that is designed for sitting on)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Holonyms ("bench" is a part of...):

court; courtroom (a room in which a lawcourt sits)

• BENCH (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Take out of a game; of players

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "bench" is one way to...):

remove (remove from a position or an office)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

bench (the reserve players on a team)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Exhibit on a bench

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Context example:

bench the poodles at the dog show

Hypernyms (to "bench" is one way to...):

display; exhibit; expose (to show, make visible or apparent)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

I was feeling sick and squeamish, and sat down on a bench.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Challenger presided with a solemnity as if he were the Lord Chief Justice on the Bench.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He stretched himself out under the bench, did not move a limb, and behaved as if he were stone dead.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

"Sit," he said; "the bench is long enough for two. You don't hesitate to take a place at my side, do you? Is that wrong, Jane?"

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Judge Scott pooh- poohed and laughed, but not with reason, for it was in his last days on the bench that Jim Hall had stood before him and received sentence.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The Bench was nothing to me but an insensible blunderer.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Before the spinet a bench was placed, about four feet below the keys, and I was put upon the bench.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Still they moved on—something better was yet in view; and by a continued exertion of strength and ingenuity they found themselves at last in the passage behind the highest bench.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

“A fair wager!” cried all the travellers, moving back their benches and trestles, so as to give fair field for the wrestlers.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Sir,” he said to the Skookum Bench king, “no, sir. You can go to hell, sir. It’s the best I can do for you, sir.”

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)