tank

[tangk]

noun

1. a large receptacle, container, or structure for holding a liquid or gas.

   tanks for storing oil.

2. a natural or artificial pool, pond, or lake.

3. Military.,  an armored, self-propelled combat vehicle, armed with cannon and machine guns and moving on a caterpillar tread.

4. (in a video game) a category of job classes in a role-playing game, best suited to withstand large amounts of damage from an enemy.

   The only decent tank in this game is Warrior, just because the cooldown period for the Paladin and Dark Knight skills is way too long.

5. Slang.,  a prison cell or enclosure for more than one occupant, as for prisoners awaiting a hearing.

6. tank top.

verb (used with object)

1. to put or store in a tank.

2. (in a video game) to provoke and hold the attention of (an enemy character) so that it does not target other player characters in the party who are less able to withstand large amounts of damage.

   If you’re properly tanking this boss, you’ll never let him face your mages.

verb (used without object)

1. Slang.,  to do poorly or decline rapidly; fail.

   The movie tanked at the box office.

verb phrase

1. tank up

   1. to fill the gas tank of an automobile or other motor vehicle.

   2. Slang.,  to drink a great quantity of alcoholic beverage, especially to intoxication.

tank

/ tæŋk /

noun

1. a large container or reservoir for the storage of liquids or gases

   tanks for storing oil

2. 1. an armoured combat vehicle moving on tracks and armed with guns, etc, originally developed in World War I

   2. ( as modifier )

      a tank commander

      a tank brigade

3. dialect,  a reservoir, lake, or pond

4. photog

   1. a light-tight container inside which a film can be processed in daylight, the solutions and rinsing waters being poured in and out without light entering

   2. any large dish or container used for processing a number of strips or sheets of film

5. slang

   1. a jail

   2. a jail cell

6. Also called: tankful. the quantity contained in a tank

7. a dam formed by excavation

verb

1. (tr) to put or keep in a tank

2. (intr) to move like a tank, esp heavily and rapidly

3. slang,  to defeat heavily

4. informal,  (intr) to fail, esp commercially

Other Word Forms

• tankless adjective
• tanklike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of tank¹

First recorded in 1610–20; perhaps jointly from Gujarati tānkh “reservoir, lake,” and Portuguese tanque, shortening of estanque “pond,” literally, “something dammed up,” derivative of estancar, from Vulgar Latin stanticāre (unattested) “to dam up, weaken”; adopted as a cover name for the military vehicle during the early stages of its manufacture in England (December 1915)

Word History and Origins

Origin of tank¹

C17: from Gujarati tānkh artificial lake, but influenced also by Portuguese tanque, from estanque pond, from estancar to dam up, from Vulgar Latin stanticāre (unattested) to block, _stanch

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. go in / into the tank, to go through the motions of a match but deliberately lose because of an illicit prearrangement or fix; throw a fight.

2. in the tank,

   1. failing, doing poorly, or declining.

      His grades were in the tank last quarter.

   2. favoring, colluding, or assisting in a partisan way (often followed by with orfor ).

      The talk-show host was in the tank with the Green Party.

More idioms and phrases containing tank

• think tank

Example Sentences

One executive said major clients called when markets were tanking after the “Liberation Day” tariff hikes were announced, appealing for a policy change, and he had to explain that the firm couldn’t help.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The new data from the Oakland-based water think tank show also that drinking water wells, pipes and dams are increasingly coming under attack.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Demers stressed there aren't many facilities in the world that can accommodate multiple belugas, and the Chinese facility, which has spent massively on enormous tanks, could work.

Read more on Barron's

AAA recommends drivers fill their gas tanks the night before their trip, and check their car battery and tire pressure.

Read more on Barron's

The Institute for Fiscal Studies, an independent economic think tank, has described the duty as "one of the most economically damaging taxes".

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• pond 
• pool 
• reservoir