take the bench

Law

1. To become a judge.

2. To preside in court: The judge took the bench to hear the plaintiff's motion.

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Bonifacy	baw-nee-FAH-tsi	Polish
Eddie	ED-ee	English
TomÁS	to-MAHS (Spanish), too-MASH (Portuguese)	Spanish, Portuguese, Irish
Emmerson	EM-ər-sən	English (Rare)
Dooley	['du:li]
Beata	be-AH-tah (Polish, German)	Polish, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Late Roman