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Glite Dictionary
Lombard Street

Lombard Street

4.5
A street in central London known for its banks
  • proper noun
translation icon : Lombard Street
  • Lombard Street in London is famous for its historic banks and financial institutions.

Examples

  • Many tourists visit Lombard Street to learn about its history as the heart of London's banking industry.

  • On Lombard Street, you can see some of the oldest banks in London still in operation.

  • Follow I-83 south to Lombard Street.

    Blog text (31)

  • A new analysis by the totally excellent economist Charles Dumas of Lombard Street Research has just dropped into my inbox.

    Blog text (31)

  • Continue on Lombard Street and make a left onto Hopkins Place. Proceed on Hopkins Place (Hopkins Place will convert into Sharp Street) and make a left onto Pratt Street.

    Blog text (31)

Synonyms

the City
vsLombard Street
  • Jargon
3 6.8

The banks and companies that do the financial business in London

is a single street known historically as the centre of banking
City of London
vsLombard Street
2 4.1

A small historic area in central London that is the main financial district with its own local government and police

is a single street inside that larger financial area

Surface Forms

Lombard Street main

Morphology

Lombard + street

The component 'Lombard' historically refers to Lombards and medieval moneylenders, so combining it with 'street' yields a street associated with Lombards/banking and thus suggests a financial connection. However, the specific cultural knowledge that Lombard Street is the centre of London's banking industry is encyclopaedic and tied to a proper-name; a B1 learner who only knows the constituent words would not reliably infer that precise institutional meaning.

Etymology

Lombard Street was named after the Lombard traders from northern Italy who set up money shops and early banks there. Because so many bankers worked on that Street, the name came to mean 'the centre of banking' in London.