Obs. A bank of a river; also, the sea-shore.
1382. Wyclif, Acts xxvii. 39. Thei biheelden sum hauene hauynge a water banke, into which thei thouȝten … for to caste the schipp.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 4239. For many a Troyen sen thei stonde Armed wel opon the londe, To put hem fro the water bankes.
c. 1425. St. Christina, vii. in Anglia, VIII. 122. Þe preste … come and stood vpoun þe watir-banke.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, IV. vi. 125. Thenne were they ware of the herte that lay on a grete water banke, and a brachet bytynge on his throte.
1546. Yorks. Chantry Surv. (Surtees), 56. The yerly reparacions of the waterbanke.
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 76. Wtheris … war cruellie slaine wpoun the watter bankis.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Sinus,… the running or hollowness of Water-banks.
fig. 1533. trans. Erasm. Expos. Commune Creed, U ij b. Swearyng … is very cosyn and nere to synne, and it is no good trustyng to this daungerous waterbanke.
