blood bank

American  

noun

1. a place where blood or blood plasma is collected, processed, stored, and distributed.

2. such a supply of blood or blood plasma.

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blood bank British  

noun

1. a place where whole blood, blood plasma, or other blood products are stored until required in transfusion

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Etymology

Origin of blood bank

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

And Alexandre’s movie theater, with its bloody spectacles, gets replaced by something very different: a blood bank, a monument to recovery.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 27, 2025

As one director of a hospital blood bank told me, “I personally think the volunteer blood supply is going to collapse in our lifetime.”

From Slate • Oct. 21, 2025

Mudather died the next morning because the hospital's blood bank had been decimated by a long power outage and he could not get the transfusion he needed.

From BBC • Mar. 14, 2025

Frankie receives a treat after his owner brought him in to donate blood at Insight Veterinary Wellness Center, a 24-hour pet hospital that opened a canine community blood bank.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 17, 2024

She got so much blood that one doctor wrote a note in her record stopping all transfusions “until her deficit with the blood bank was made up.”

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot