surge tank

American

noun

a large surge chamber.

surge tank British

noun

engineering a tank used to absorb surges in flow

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

Last month, a pressure relief valve on a surge tank stuck open, causing hundreds of thousands of gallons of wastewater to spill onto the street.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 19, 2024

Washington has long infuriated Canadians by treating their country as a "surge tank": drawing on it for supplies when shortages threaten, cutting back again when the pinch eases.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023