Forms: 1 benc(e, 3–6 benche, (Orm. bennche), 4– bench. For Sc. and northern forms, see BENK, BINK. [Comm. Teut.: OE. bęnc = ON. *benkr (Sw. bänk, Da. bænk, Icel. bekkr), OS., MHG., MDu. banc, OHG. banch, mod.G., Du. bank:—OTeut. *banki-z ‘bench’: cf. BANK sb.1, 2, which are originally the same word as this, introduced into English at a later time through Romanic. In sense 2, bench translates L. bancum, AF. baunc, baunk.]
1. A long seat, with or without a back, usually of wood, but also of stone, etc. ‘Distinguished from a stool by its greater length.’ J.
a. 1000. Beowulf, 659. Buʓon þa to bence.
c. 1200. Ormin, 14087. He wollde sittenn þær, To drinnkenn þære on bennche.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. I. 200. To cracchen ous [rats] … þouh we crepe vnder benches.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 30. Benche, scamnum.
1535. Coverdale, Esther i. 6. The benches were of golde and siluer.
1611. Bible, Ezek. xxvii. 6. Thy benches of Yuorie.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 509, ¶ 3. The benches around are so filthy, that no one can sit down.
1870. F. Wilson, Ch. Lindisf., 69. The nave is now seated with two rows of low-backed benches.
b. A seat or thwart in a boat.
1552. Huloet, Benches in a barge, bote, or shyppe, juga.
1792. Cowper, Odyss., XV. 666. Each obedient, to his bench repaired.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Benches of Boats.
2. The seat where the judges sit in court; the judge’s seat, or seat of justice; hence, the office or dignity of a judge, as in ‘to be raised to the bench.’
c. 1275. Mapes, Body & Soul, 305. Theiȝ alle the men nouȝ. under mone to demen weren sette on benche.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., V. ii. 86. To plucke downe Iustice from your awefull Bench.
1663. Butler, Hud., I. I. 23. Great on the Bench, Great in the Saddle.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 450. These qualifications he carried … from the bar to the bench. Ibid., 662. On the bench sate three judges who had been with Jeffreys.
b. Hence, the place where justice is administered: orig. applied to The (Court of) Common Bench, or (later) Common Pleas at Westminster, Anglo-Fr. le baunc, L. bancum; also The (Court of) King’s or Queen’s Bench, in which originally the sovereign presided, and which followed him in his movements. (These now form divisions of the High Court of Judicature.)
1292. Britton, I. xxvii. § 13. Brefs pledables par devaunt nos Justices du baunc a Westmouster [before our Justices of the Bench at Westminster]. Ibid., § 14. Si soint ajournez en baunc en presence des parties [they shall be adjourned into the Bench]. Ibid., xxii. § 18. Des clers … del un baunc et del autre, et des clers del Escheker [the clerks … of the one Bench and the other].
1297. R. Glouc., 570. Biuore þe iustises atte benche.
1330. (See BENK.]
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. Prol. 95. To ben Clerkes of þe Kynges Benche.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, 79. The courtes of the chaunserye, kynges bench, comyn place.
1628. Coke, On Litt., 71 b. Called the Kings Bench … because Kings in former times haue often personally set there.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., III. 41. The court of king’s bench … is the supreme court of common law in the kingdom.
1809. Tomlins, Law Dict., s.v. King’s Bench, During the reign of a Queen, it is called the Queen’s Bench; and in Cromwell’s time, it was stiled the Upper Bench.
1835. Penny Cycl., III. 376/1. Of the modern Court of Common Pleas … the judges … retain the technical title of ‘Justices of the Bench at Westminster’ to the present day.
c. Any court of justice; a tribunal.
1589. Pasquil’s Ret., B ij. The Courtes, Benches, Sessions, that are helde … in her Maiesties name.
1660. Milton, Free Commw., Wks. (1851), 451. Monarchs … will have all the Benches of Judicature annex’d to the Throne.
1863. Kingsley, Water-Bab., iv. 149. The other two [days] he went to the bench and the board of guardians.
d. The judges or magistrates collectively, or the judge or magistrate sitting in the seat of justice.
1592. Greene, Art Conny Catch., 10. The bench, that neuer heard this name before, smiled.
1677. Marvell, Corr., 296, II. 355. Sir, Your’s and the Bench’s most humble servant.
a. 1716. Blackall, Wks., I. 318. He had been asked some questions by the Bench.
1753. Pringle, in Scots Mag., XV. 42/1. The bench consisted of six persons.
1837. Disraeli, Venetia, I. xvi. Now, prisoner, the bench is ready to hear your confession.
3. A seat where a number of persons sit side by side in some official capacity; e.g., those in the British Houses of Parliament (originally simple wooden benches), that occupied by the Aldermen in a Council Chamber, etc.
[1607. Shaks., Timon, IV. i. 5. Slaues and Fooles Plucke the graue wrinkled Senate from the Bench.]
1742. Shenstone, Schoolmistr., xxviii. A little bench of heedless bishops And there a chancellor in embryo.
1771. Smollett, Humph. Cl. (1815), 132. Every individual that now filled the bench of bishops in the house of Lords.
1812. Examiner, 4 May, 280/1 (Parliament. Rep.). Loud cheering from the Treasury bench.
1849. Ht. Martineau, Hist. Eng., I. 15. The cross-benches of neutrality in the House of Commons.
1883. May, Law of Parl., 16. The spiritual and temporal lords … sit apart, on separate benches.
1885. Manch. Exam., 24 July, 6/1. The comparative bareness of … the Whig benches on the left of the Speaker’s chair.
Hence, b. The dignity of occupying such a seat, as ‘to be raised to the episcopal bench,’ i.e., the Bishop’s bench in the House of Lords, ‘to aspire to the civic bench,’ i.e., to be an Alderman, etc. c. Applied collectively to the persons who occupy, or have a right to occupy, such a seat.
[1494. Fabyan, VII. 665. By a consent of the benche [of aldermen], and of the comyn counsayll.]
1600. Chapman, Iliad, VI. 513. Those loving vows to living Jove he used And all the other bench of gods.
1807. Bp. Lincoln, in G. Rose, Diaries (1860), I. 359. It has … excited no small alarm amongst some of our bench.
1853. Bright, India, Sp. (1876), 2. I do not allude to the whole of the Treasury bench.
1860. Forster, Gr. Remonstr., 196. The conflict with the Right Reverend Bench which ended in their committal to the Tower.
4. An article of furniture similar in form to the long seat (sense 1): † a. a footstool; b. the rough strong table at which carpenters and other mechanics work; c. a banker’s counter.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pers. T., ¶ 515. Ne schal ye not swere … by the eorthe, for it is the benche of his feet.
1727. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Foundery, Two workmen … have a table or bench in common.
1755. Johnson, Dict., s.v. Bankrupt, When any became insolvent his … bench was broke.
1881. Mechanic, I. viii. § 466. A carpenter’s bench may be either fixed or moveable.
1885. Hesba Stretton, in Good Words, XIV. 27/2. I have begun to work a little now at the bench.
5. Hence, A collection of dogs as exhibited at a show on benches or platforms; hence attrib.
1883. Chamb. Jrnl., 305. The ‘bench’ and field properties of a greyhound.
6. = BANK sb.1 1.
c. 1450. Why not Nun, 114, in E. E. P. (1862), 141. Vn-to a benche of camomylle My wofulle hede I dyd inclyne.
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utop. (Arb.), 30. Vpon a bench couered with greene torues, we satte downe talkyng together.
1652. Ashmole, Theat. Chem., 215. Benches coverid with new Turves grene.
7. Any conformation of earth, stone, etc., which has a raised and flat surface: e.g., the coping of a wall (? obs.); a level ledge or set-back in the slope of masonry or earthwork; in U.S. a level tract between a river and neighboring hills; a horizontal division or layer of a coal-seam, cut by itself.
1730. A. Gordon, Maffei’s Amphith., 399–400. The Bench or Out-jutting, which is above the highest Ridge of the Building.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 111. Its slope … being formed into a sort of steps, or benches.
1862. R. C. Mayne, Brit. Columbia, 108. These flats or benches … are found generally at the bends of the river.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., s.v. Bench, One bench or layer [of coal] being cut before the adjacent one.
8. Law. See FREE BENCH.
9. Comb., chiefly attrib., as bench-cloth, -tied (sense 1), bench-business, -mute (sense 2), bench-cheek, -drill, -jaw or -vice (4 b). Also bench-babbler = BENCH-WHISTLER; bench-clamp, a kind of vice with sliding side used to force together the parts, e.g., of a window-frame; bench-coal (see 7); bench-hammer, a finisher’s or blacksmith’s hammer; bench-holdfast, -hook, an iron hook, sliding in a socket, by which a plank may be gripped; † bench-hole, a privy; bench-key, a particular key used by a watchmaker for winding watches upon which he is employed; bench-plane, a joiner’s plane for working on a flat surface; bench-reel, a spinning reel on the pirn of which sailmakers wind their yarn; bench-room, sitting accommodation; bench-screw (see quot.); bench-shears, shears used by copper- and zinc-workers; bench-show (see 5); bench-stop, -strip, a strip of wood or metal fixed on a carpenter’s bench to rest his work against; bench-table, a low stone seat on the inside of walls, or round the bases of pillars, in churches, cloisters, etc.; bench-warrant, one issued by a judge, as opposed to a justice’s or magistrate’s warrant; bench-winder = Bench-key. See also BENCH-MARK, -WHISTLER.
1549. Bale, in Cheke’s Hurt Sedit. (1641), Pref. These chimney-Preachers, and *bench-Bablers.
1850. J. Smith, Rep. Sanit. Condition Hull, 17. Forming *bench-beds for the vessels.
1647. Fuller, Good Th. in Worse T. (1841), 103. As if he made a session or *bench-business thereof.
1881. Mechanic, § 505. Pins running through the bench leg and *bench cheek respectively.
1552. Huloet, *Benchclothe, or carpet cloth.
1712. Phil. Trans., XXVII. 541. Coal, called *Bench-Coal.
1555. Fardle Facions, 19. Whiche dreamed not their knowledge in the *benchehole at home.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., IV. vii. 9. Wee’l beat ’em into Bench-holes.
a. 1656. Hall, Rem. Wks. (1660), 231. The stoutest Atheist turnes pale, and is ready to creep into a bench-hole.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 236. The *bench-hook is to keep the wood steady.
1635. Brathwait, Arcad. Pr., ii. 13. Thou … sitt’st *Bench-mute with thy decayed braines.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 358. Sufficient bed and *bench-room to rest and repose.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 237. The *bench-screw is used to fasten boards between the cheeks, in order to plane their edges.
1881. Mechanic, § 464. An ordinary carpenter’s bench … with a bench vice and *bench stop.
1849. Freeman, Archit., 197. A *bench table along the east wall.
1820. T. Mitchell, Aristoph., I. 33. My poor *bench-tied countrymen.
1696. Luttrell, Brief Rel., IV. 108. A *bench warrant was issued out for the apprehending on Burdet.
1884. F. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 293. *Bench Winder … [is] a key used for winding watches by a watch maker.
