tank

[tangk]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR tank ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a large receptacle, container, or structure for holding a liquid or gas: tanks for storing oil.

a natural or artificial pool, pond, or lake.

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

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

tank top.

verb (used with object)

to put or store in a tank.

verb (used without object)

Slang. to do poorly or decline rapidly; fail: The movie tanked at the box office.

Verb Phrases

tank up,

to fill the gas tank of an automobile or other motor vehicle.
Slang.to drink a great quantity of alcoholic beverage, especially to intoxication.

Idioms

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

in the tank, Slang.

failing, doing poorly, or declining: His grades were in the tank last quarter.
favoring, colluding, or assisting in a partisan way (often followed by with or for): The talk-show host was in the tank with the Green Party.

Origin of tank

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

Related formstank·less, adjectivetank·like, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for tank

vessel, container, pond, pool, reservoir, keg, cask, cistern, basin, receptacle, vat, cauldron, tub, aquarium

Examples from the Web for tank

Contemporary Examples of tank

Tank Battle Kim's death -- a clean version of Kim's Face shot (no head burning or head exploding).
Sony Emails Show How the Studio Plans to Censor Kim Jong Un Assassination Comedy ‘The Interview’
William Boot
December 15, 2014
Tank Battle Jeep Guard Crush -- some editorial changes and the removal of all blood when the guards are crushed by the tank.
Sony Emails Show How the Studio Plans to Censor Kim Jong Un Assassination Comedy ‘The Interview’
William Boot
December 15, 2014
Tougher regulations on tank cars and oil-by-rail make sense.
Why the Keystone XL Pipeline May Not Be Built
Robert Bryce
November 19, 2014
If it is the tank, then it looks reasonably intact, suggesting it did not fail.
Clues From SpaceShipTwo’s Wreckage: Did the Crew Compartment Fail?
Clive Irving
November 2, 2014
In battle, it means the ability to shift from suicide bombers to tank columns and maneuver warfare in the span of a day.
Has ISIS Peaked as a Military Power?
Jacob Siegel
October 22, 2014

Historical Examples of tank

"Look at that dog-fish," said Vavasor, pointing to the largest in the tank.
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald
He appears to think that so distinguished a criminal should have been ducked in a tank of rosewater.
The Devil's Dictionary
Ambrose Bierce
For a moment he fancied the tank must be empty, for nothing came of his efforts.
The Fortune Hunter
Louis Joseph Vance
Peters clubbed Tremont's foot from the tank rack he had hooked with the toe.
Satellite System
Horace Brown Fyfe
Then Professor Wentworth switched off the current and stepped toward the tank.
Spawn of the Comet
Harold Thompson Rich

British Dictionary definitions for tank

tank

noun

a large container or reservoir for the storage of liquids or gasestanks for storing oil

an armoured combat vehicle moving on tracks and armed with guns, etc, originally developed in World War I
(as modifier)a tank commander; a tank brigade

British and US dialect a reservoir, lake, or pond

photog

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

slang, mainly US

a jail
a jail cell

Also called: tankful the quantity contained in a tank

Australian a dam formed by excavation

verb

(tr) to put or keep in a tank

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

slang to defeat heavily

(intr) informal to fail, esp commercially

Word Origin for tank

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

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

Word Origin and History for tank

1610s, "pool or lake for irrigation or drinking water," a word originally brought by the Portuguese from India, ultimately from Gujarati tankh "cistern, underground reservoir for water," Marathi tanken, or tanka "reservoir of water, tank."

Perhaps from Sanskrit tadaga-m "pond, lake pool," and reinforced in later sense of "large artificial container for liquid" (1680s) by Portuguese tanque "reservoir," from estancar "hold back a current of water," from Vulgar Latin *stanticare (see stanch). But others say the Portuguese word is the source of the Indian ones.

Meaning "fuel container" is recorded from 1902. Military use originated 1915, partly as a code word, partly because they looked like benzene tanks. They were first used in action at Pozieres ridge, on the Western Front, Sept. 15, 1916. Slang meaning "detention cell" is from 1912.

"to lose or fail," 1976, originally in tennis jargon, but said there to be from boxing, from tank (n.) in some sense. Related: Tanked; tanking. Adjective tanked "drunk" is from 1893.

Idioms and Phrases with tank

tank

In addition to the idiom beginning with tank

tank up

also see:

think tank