To confine or protect with an embankment; to build a bank or barrier to hold back water.
From em- (in) + bank (embankment, ridge of earth), from Old Norse bakki. The prefix em- gives emphasis to the action of creating or reinforcing a bank.
Dutch engineers perfected embanking techniques over centuries, allowing them to literally build entire regions below sea level—the Netherlands exists because of sophisticated embanking that keeps out the North Sea.
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