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.
verb (used with object)
6.
to put or store in a tank.
00:10
Tank
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is absquatulate. Does it mean:
| to flee; abscond: |
| to bark; yelp. |
verb (used without object)
Verb phrases 7.
Slang. to do poorly or decline rapidly; fail: The movie tanked at the box office.
8.
Idioms 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, especially to intoxication.
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; 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)
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 forms
tank·less, adjective
tank·like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To tank
Collins
World English Dictionary
tank (tæŋk) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | a large container or reservoir for the storage of liquids or gases: tanks for storing oil |
| 2. | a. an armoured combat vehicle moving on tracks and armed with guns, etc, originally developed in World War I |
| b. (as modifier): a tank commander; a tank brigade | |
| 3. | dialect (Brit), (US) a reservoir, lake, or pond |
| 4. | photog |
| a. 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 | |
| b. any large dish or container used for processing a number of strips or sheets of film | |
| 5. | slang chiefly (US) |
| a. a jail | |
| b. a jail cell | |
| 6. | Also called: tankful the quantity contained in a tank |
| 7. | (Austral) a dam formed by excavation |
| —vb | |
| 8. | (tr) to put or keep in a tank |
| 9. | (intr) to move like a tank, esp heavily and rapidly |
| 10. | slang to defeat heavily |
| 11. | informal (intr) to fail, esp commercially |
| [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, | |
| 'tankless | |
| —adj | |
| 'tanklike | |
| —adj | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
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 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.
tank
"to lose or fail," 1976, originally in tennis jargon, but said there to be from boxing, from tank (n.) in some sense. Tanked "drunk" is from 1893.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary
tank definition
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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American Heritage
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Example sentences
The tank above the reactor is a large tank of water that gradually releases water into the reactor vessel.
The resulting liquid is sent to a large storage tank, which can be tapped for drinking.
It was a sizable propane tank stuffed with high explosives.
The tank was constructed of clear acrylic to enhance visual observations of the flow.
Idioms & Phrases
Nearby Words
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