bench

noun

1. a long seat for several persons: a bench in the park.
2. a seat occupied by an official, especially a judge.
3. such a seat as a symbol of the office and dignity of an individual judge or the judiciary.
4. the office or dignity of various other officials, or the officials themselves.
5. Sports.
   1. the seat on which the players of a team sit during a game while not playing.
   2. thequality and number of the players of a team who are usually used as substitutes: A weak bench hurt their chances for the championship.
6. Informal. bench press.
7. Also called workbench. the strong worktable of a carpenter or other mechanic.
8. a platform on which animals are placed for exhibition, especially at a dog show.
9. a contest or exhibition of dogs; dog show.
10. Physical Geography. a shelflike area of rock with steep slopes above and below.
11. Mining. a step or working elevation in a mine.
12. berm(def 2).

verb (used with object)

13. to furnish with benches.
14. to seat on a bench or on the bench: an election that benched him in the district court.
15. to place (a show dog or other animal) in exhibition.
16. to cut away the working faces of (a mine or quarry) in benches.
17. Sports. to remove from a game or keep from participating in a game: to be benched because of poor hitting.

Idioms

18. on the bench,
    1. serving as a judge in a court of law; presiding.
    2. Sports.(of a player) not participating in play, either for part or all of a game.

noun

1. Johnny,born 1947, U.S. baseball player.

noun

1. a long seat for more than one person, usually lacking a back or arms
2. a plain stout worktable
3. the bench (sometimes capital)
   1. a judge or magistrate sitting in court in a judicial capacity
   2. judges or magistrates collectively
4. sport the seat on which reserve players and officials sit during a game
5. geology a flat narrow platform of land, esp one marking a former shoreline
6. a ledge in a mine or quarry from which work is carried out
7. (in a gymnasium) a low table, which may be inclined, used for various exercises
8. a platform on which dogs or other domestic animals are exhibited at shows
9. NZ a hollow on a hillside formed by sheep

verb (tr)

10. to provide with benches
11. to exhibit (a dog, etc) at a show
12. NZ to form (a track) up a hill by excavating a flattened area
13. US and Canadian sport to take or keep (a player) out of a game, often for disciplinary reasons

n.

Old English benc “long seat,” from Proto-Germanic *bankiz “bank of earth,” perhaps here “man-made earthwork,” later “bench, table” (cf. Old Frisian bank “bench,” Old Norse bekkr, Danish bænk, Middle Dutch banc, Old High German banch), from PIE root *bheg- “to break.” Used for “office of a judge” since late 13c. Sporting sense “reserve of players” (in baseball, North American football, etc.) is by 1909, from literal sense of place where players sit when not in action (by 1889).

v.

“to take out of the game,” 1902, from bench (n.) in the sporting sense. Related: Benched; benching. Old English also had a verb form, but it meant “to make benches.”

see on the bench; warm the bench.