tank
- 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.
- to put or store in a tank.
- Slang. to do poorly or decline rapidly; fail: The movie tanked at the box office.
- 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.
- 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
Examples from the Web for tank
Contemporary Examples
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.
If it is the tank, then it looks reasonably intact, suggesting it did not fail.
In battle, it means the ability to shift from suicide bombers to tank columns and maneuver warfare in the span of a day.
Historical Examples
"Look at that dog-fish," said Vavasor, pointing to the largest in the tank.
Weighed and WantingGeorge MacDonald
He appears to think that so distinguished a criminal should have been ducked in a tank of rosewater.
The Devil's DictionaryAmbrose Bierce
For a moment he fancied the tank must be empty, for nothing came of his efforts.
The Fortune HunterLouis Joseph Vance
Peters clubbed Tremont's foot from the tank rack he had hooked with the toe.
Satellite SystemHorace Brown Fyfe
Then Professor Wentworth switched off the current and stepped toward the tank.
Spawn of the CometHarold Thompson Rich
tank
- 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
- (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
Word Origin and History for tank
n.
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.
v.
"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
also see: