DCHP-1 Online

bench † 

• n. a relatively level terrace lying between a river or lake and the nearby hills or plateau, once part of the river or lake bed.

  • 1854  (1885)  . . . when walking along a high "bench" of the river, I saw smoke arising. . . .
  • 1862  These flats, or benches as they are called in this country, are found generally at the bends of the river, and are raised some fifty or sixty feet above it. They occur much more frequently on the Thompson and Nicola Rivers, and higher up the Fraser.
  • 1962  I broke out onto the big bench where the road rises from the valley and spills a man onto the unbroken, open grassland.