Etymology
Origin of holding tank
First recorded in 1970–75
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Nebraska State Fire Marshal Agency said firefighters found a liquid holding tank that had been damaged in the explosion at the plant, which makes the highly flammable fuel additive.
From Seattle Times
Describing the smell as "putrid", Braeden Lampard told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation his team were transferring rescued fish to a holding tank supplied with oxygen.
From BBC
To protect the male sea dragon from bumping the eggs off his tail, aquarists at the New England Aquarium moved him to his own smaller holding tank to be monitored.
From New York Times
In another, Fred Harris, a 19-year-old, cognitively disabled inmate who weighed only 98 pounds, was placed in a holding tank with a 240-pound detainee who was known to be violent and was required to have an escort when outside his cell, according to a lawsuit filed by Mr. Harris’s family.
From New York Times
But she conflated CBP’s processing space at the border — the equivalent of a police station’s holding tank — with ICE’s detention beds, which are more akin to a county jail.
From Washington Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
