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

See Examples For:

blood bank

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

For Pawlowski, clinical director of the blood bank and pet hospital, the corgi’s successful transfusion was the culmination of years of work that included guiding the blood bank law through the Legislature.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2024

They show up to outpatient clinics already displaying signs of trouble, Horvath said, and immediately have to be sent to the hospital where there’s an operating room and a blood bank.

From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2024

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