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blood bank

blood bank

19 2.8
A place that collects, keeps, and gives blood to patients
  • noun
  • /blʌd bæŋk/
translation icon : banco de sangre
  • She works at the local blood bank, organizing donations for hospitals.

All the people with low social credit score, they can adjust their credit score by giving blood for basically government reserve blood banks.

Examples

  • So in order to ingratiate myself... you see, she works at the blood bank... I'd go in three times a week and give a pint of blood.

  • I know this place; it’s a blood bank.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • We just came from the blood bank.

  • DOCTOR 4: Call the blood bank.

  • Check the blood bank and report back.

  • Or go to the blood bank.

    Blog text (17)
  • My blood bank's a few blocks away.

  • When her mother was sick and needed blood donations, every brother went to the hospital blood bank.

    Blog text (5)
  • They're giving away free sandwiches at the blood bank.

  • Luckily, before the surgery, a nurse going down the checklist discovered an oversight by the hospital blood bank in time to ensure that a supply of red blood cells was on hand.

    Blog text (10)

Surface Forms

blood bank singular
blood banks plural

Morphology

blood + bank

The meaning 'an organization that collects and stores blood' is directly and compositionally derived from 'blood' (the bodily fluid) + 'bank' (a stored supply/place for future use). This storage-institution sense of 'bank' is common across languages and transparent to learners who know both constituent words.

Etymology

The phrase blood bank comes from the idea of a bank as a safe place to keep something valuable. People donate blood which is kept there, so the term means a place that 'stores' and 'supplies' blood for patients.