memory bank

noun

: a computer device or component in which information is stored to be retrieved as needed

—often plural

But it turned out the spacecraft's computer had overloaded trying to do two things at once—receive instructions for the flyby while compressing images in its memory banks.

—Kenneth Chang

—often used figuratively especially for the part of the mind in which memories are stored

Here's something I pulled up from the memory bank the other day, after cruising the mystery aisles of my neighborhood bookstore …

—Marilyn Stasio

The same two hormones, it now appears, also prime the brain to take very special note in its memory banks of the circumstance that set off the [fight-or-flight] reaction.

—Daniel Goleman

Examples of memory bank in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Those two missed putts down the stretch at Pinehurst won’t just disappear from his memory bank. —Brody Miller, The Athletic, 21 Nov. 2024

Within the comfortable confines of the dome, Watson never failed to impress: Its memory banks held knowledge of every rare disease, and its processors weren’t susceptible to the kind of cognitive bias that can throw off doctors. —IEEE Spectrum, 2 Apr. 2019

The plot itself fades into the background, but Theron’s fight scenes sear into the memory banks, both lithe and reckless, gloriously choreographed yet sloppily unpredictable. —Will Leitch, Vulture, 24 June 2024

Maybe Adams also needs to be charged with one count of bad memory banks. —David Browne, Rolling Stone, 27 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1952, in the meaning defined above