bench

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A long seat, often without a back, for two or more persons.
• noun Nautical A thwart in a boat.
• noun The seat for judges in a courtroom.
• noun The office or position of a judge.
• noun The judge or judges composing a court.
• noun A seat occupied by a person in an official capacity.
• noun The office of such a person.
• noun A strong worktable, such as one used in carpentry or in a laboratory.
• noun A platform on which animals, especially dogs, are exhibited.
• noun The area, often equipped with benches, where the coaches and the players who are not actively participating in the game remain.
• noun The reserve players on a team.
• noun A level, narrow stretch of land interrupting a declivity.
• noun A level elevation of land along a shore or coast, especially one marking a former shoreline.
• transitive verb To furnish with benches.
• transitive verb To seat on a bench.
• transitive verb To show (dogs) in a bench show.
• transitive verb Sports To keep out of or remove from a game.
• transitive verb Sports To bench-press.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A horizontal subdivision of a bed of coal or other mineral.
• noun A glass tray in which microscopical slides can be placed, in a vertical position, for staining or other purposes.
• noun A long seat, usually of board or plank, or of stone, differing from a stool in its greater length.
• noun The seat where judges sit in court; the seat of justice.
• noun Hence The body of persons who sit as judges; the court: as, the case is to go before the full bench.
• noun A strong table on which carpenters or other mechanics do their work; a work-bench.
• noun The floor or ledge which supports muffles and retorts.
• noun A platform or a series of elevated stalls or boxes on which animals are placed for exhibition, as at a dog-show.
• noun In engineering, a ledge left on the edge of a cutting in earthwork to strengthen it.
• noun In geology and mining:
• noun A natural terrace, marking the outcrop of a harder seam or stratum, and thus indicating a change in the character of the rock.
• noun In coal-mining, a division of a coal-seam separated from the remainder of the bed by a parting of shale or any other kind of rock or mineral.
• noun A small area of nearly level or gently sloping land, rising above the adjacent low region, and forming a part of a terrace or wash, disunited from the remainder by erosion. Sometimes, though rarely, used as synonymous with terrace.
• noun The driver's seat on a coach.
• To furnish with benches.
• To bank up.
• To seat on a bench; place on a seat of honor.
• To place on a show-bench for exhibition, as a dog.
• In mining: To undercut, kirve, or hole (the coal).
• To wedge up the bottoms below the holing when this is done in the middle of the seam.
• To sit on a seat of justice.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• intransitive verb rare To sit on a seat of justice.
• transitive verb To furnish with benches.
• transitive verb To place on a bench or seat of honor.
• noun A long seat, differing from a stool in its greater length.
• noun A long table at which mechanics and other work.
• noun The seat where judges sit in court.
• noun The persons who sit as judges; the court. See King's Bench.