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.
Sometime after noon, another transgender woman in the holding tank asked a deputy whether a bus would come for them.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 28, 2025
Another detail the woman who turned us away never heard is that Clyde's birthday, listed on the name tag taped to his holding tank, is two days after RayRay's death.
From Salon • Dec. 6, 2024
Without this important convenience, you’ll be stunned how fast you’ll fill up your onboard sewage holding tank.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 19, 2024
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 • Mar. 19, 2023
I didn’t know the exact size of the Coral Queen’s holding tank, but I guessed it carried a couple hundred gallons of waste.
From "Flush" by Carl Hiaasen
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.
