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embank

American  
[em-bangk] / ɛmˈbæŋk /

verb (used with object)

  1. to enclose or protect with an embankment.


embank British  
/ ɪmˈbæŋk /

verb

  1. (tr) to protect, enclose, or confine (a waterway, road, etc) with an embankment

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of embank

First recorded in 1640–50; em- 1 + bank 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

I trust that if urban improvers ever want to embank the "Mall" or the eyot, public opinion will see its way to keeping this unique bit of the London river as it is.

From The Naturalist on the Thames by C. J. (Charles John) Cornish

Exhausted, he still made light of his achievement––climbing through day and night to arrive before the snow should embank around him.

From The Eye of Dread by Payne Erskine

They excavated a space, to the depth of three or four feet, and used the earth they threw out to embank the walls raised upon the edge of the excavation.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 49, November, 1861 by Various

A few attempts had been made to deepen and embank the natural streams, but with slender success.

From The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 1 by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay

To raise a mound or dike about; to inclose, defend, or fortify with a bank; to embank.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Noah Webster

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