Signbank

1. A social club for people who are deaf; the deaf club.

2. In Australia, any of a number of state based organisations that provide services to the deaf community (interpreting, welfare, community education, etc.); the deaf society.

3. Any kind of social or sporting association. English = club.

4. A building in which Christians worship. A now obsolete meaning based on the original BSL sign. English = church.

1. Related to the BSL-based sign for ‘church’ through meaning shift. There was a church in the middle of the Jolimont Square in Melbourne where the Deaf Society of Victoria was originally located. The sign ‘church’ came to mean the Deaf Society, then the deaf club which was also on the premises, and finally to any kind of club.