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tank

 - 7 dictionary results
Tank
Shop designer tanks & more at the official St. John site.
www.SJK.com
Diesel, Gas & Oil Tanks
Tank System Design & Equipment Diesel Gas Oil Oil-Water Separator
www.PetroDirect.com

tank

  [tangk]
Use tank in a Sentence
–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. Slang. a prison cell or enclosure for more than one occupant, as for prisoners awaiting a hearing.
5. tank top.
–verb (used with object)
6. to put or store in a tank.
–verb (used without object)
7. Slang. to do poorly or decline rapidly; fail: The movie tanked at the box office.
—Verb phrase
8. tank up,
a. to fill the gas tank of an automobile or other motor vehicle.
b. Slang. to drink a great quantity of alcoholic beverage, esp. to intoxication.
—Idiom
9. go in 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.
Origin:
1610–20; perh. jointly < Gujarati tānkh reservoir, lake, and Pg tanque, contr. of estanque pond, lit., something dammed up, deriv. of estancar (< VL *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 forms:
tankless, adjective
tanklike, adjective
Tank
Shop designer tanks & more at the official St. John site.
www.SJK.com
Diesel, Gas & Oil Tanks
Tank System Design & Equipment Diesel Gas Oil Oil-Water Separator
www.PetroDirect.com

tank top

 
–noun
a close-fitting, low-cut top having shoulder straps and often made of lightweight, knitted fabric.
Also called tank.

Origin:
1945–50
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To tank
tank   (tāngk)   
n.  

    1. A large, often metallic container for holding or storing liquids or gases.

    2. The amount that this container can hold: buy a tank of gas.

  2. A usually artificial pool, pond, reservoir, or cistern, especially one used to hold water for drinking or for irrigation.

  3. An enclosed, heavily armored combat vehicle that is armed with cannon and machine guns and moves on continuous tracks.

  4. A tank top.

  5. Slang A jail or jail cell.

v.   tanked, tank·ing, tanks

v.   tr.
To place, store, or process in a tank.
v.   intr.
Slang To suffer a sudden decline or failure: "Steady investors . . . kept their heads when the stock market tanked in October 1987" (Burton G. Malkiel).
Phrasal Verb(s):
tank up

  1. Slang To drink to the point of intoxication.

  2. To fill the tank of a motor vehicle with gasoline.


[Partly from Gujarati tānkh, cistern (from Sanskrit taḍāgaḥ, pond, perhaps of Dravidian origin) and partly from Portuguese tanque, reservoir (variant of estanque, from estancar, to dam up, from Vulgar Latin *stanticāre; see stanch1).]
tank'ful' (-fŏŏl') n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Slang Dictionary
tank

  1. in.
    and tank up. to drink too much beer; to drink to excess. : Let's go out this Friday and tank a while.
  2. n.
    a drunkard. (Usually tank-up.) : You're turning into a real tank, Harry.
  3. n.
    a jail cell for holding drunks. : One night in the tank was enough to make John take the pledge.
  4. tv. & in.
    to lose a game deliberately. : The manager got wind of a plan to tank Friday's game.
  5. in.
    for something to fail. : The entire stock market tanked on Friday.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

tank  (n.)
c.1616, "pool or lake for irrigation or drinking water," a word originally brought by the Portuguese from India, ult. from Gujarati tankh "cistern, underground reservoir for water," Marathi tanken, or tanka "reservoir of water, tank." Perhaps from Skt. tadaga-m "pond, lake pool," and reinforced in later sense of "large artificial container for liquid" (1690) by Port. tanque "reservoir," from estancar "hold back a current of water," from V.L. *stanticare (see stanch). But others say the Port. 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. Tanker "ship for carrying oil or other liquid cargo," is first attested 1900. Tank top is 1968, from tank suit "one-piece bathing costume" (1920s), so called because it was worn in a swimming tank, or pool.

tank  (v.)
"to lose or fail," 1976, originaly in tennis jargon, but said there to be from boxing, from tank (n.) in some sense. Tanked "drunk" is from 1893.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

tank

In addition to the idiom beginning with tank, also see think tank.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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