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.

---

blood bank British  

noun

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

---

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

This shaggy, silly movie works because you want to be there wherever the leads fall splat on their faces: a blood bank, a brawl, an ambulance.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 16, 2025

The clinic provides its patients with state-of-the-art medical technology, including a blood bank that serves much of the central plateau, and a sophisticated lab.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French