tank
nounverbnouncommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈtæŋk//
- United Kingdom/[ˈtʰæŋk]/
- United Kingdom//ˈtaŋk//
- United Kingdom/[ˈtʰaŋk]/
- Scotland//ˈtaŋk//
A closed container for liquids or gases.
noun
- 1
A closed container for liquids or gases.
The propane is stored in these tanks.
The tank contains unfiltered water. You really shouldn't drink from that.
The other room was a kitchen, with an open fireplace, a safe, a dresser and a tin sink, with a tap from the tank outside.
- 2
An open container or pool for storing water or other liquids.
The contractors installed a new tank with gorgeous fish and corals.
The ore slurries are directed into an open tank outside the excavation site.
- 3
A pond, pool, or small lake (either natural or artificial).
The tanks are full and the grass is high.
- 4
The fuel reservoir of a vehicle.
We have brought the van to a garage after we found a leak in the tank.
- 5
The amount held by a container; a tankful.
I burned three tanks of gas on the drive to New York.
- 6
An armoured fighting vehicle, armed with a gun designed for direct fire, and moving on caterpillar tracks.
The journalist mistook the self-propelled artillery vehicle for a tank.
Few remember the female tanks that were produced between the World Wars.
Tank beats everything! Oh, man! I could do this all day!
- 7
A reservoir or dam.
- 8
A structure of tightly overlapping leaves used by some bromeliads to retain water.
- 9
A very muscular and physically imposing person; somebody who is built like a tank.
- 10
datedA bouncer or doorman.
- 11
A unit or character designed primarily around damage absorption and holding the attention of the enemy (as opposed to dealing damage, healing, or other tasks).
The paladin can make for a decent tank, but I recommend that you get a class with better taunting skills.
See also: distraction carnifex
- 12
slangA prison cell, or prison generally.
drunk tank
The sheriff threw us in the tank without charges!
By the nature of imprisonment, one is perceived by free society as something subhuman. By the nature of being on a protective custody tank, a "gay tank", everyone there is seen as members of the lowest caste in the system.
- 13
slangA metaphorical place where a player goes to contemplate a decision; see in the tank.
- 14
Variant of tank engine or tank locomotiveEllipsis of tank engine or tank locomotive.
Representing the older types now are some Stroudley 0-6-0 tanks, while a Drummond "C14" 0-4-0 tank might still be pottering about on the Town Quays as of yore.
- 15
Variant of tank topEllipsis of tank top.
T-BACK COTTON TANK
It pleased her more than she could say to know she walked on her own land, over dewed grass, wearing a tank and cotton pajama pants.
I was wearing a tank and some cotton pants.
On TikTok, #wifepleaser boasts more than 11.4 million views, while #wifepleasertank has racked up 13.9 million. […] Thanks to TikTok, there has been a mass adoption of the term “wife pleaser” in an attempt to rebrand the tank.
Etymology
From Portuguese tanque (“tank, liquid container”), from an Indo-Aryan language, likely Gujarati ટાંકી (ṭā̃kī, “cistern”) or Marathi टांकी (ṭāṅkī). A false friend can be found in North Germanic: dunk (“canister, keg”), 17th c. tönk, which appears derived from both Low German tunneke, Dutch tonneke (diminutive of "barrel"), and dunka (“to dunk, to dip under water, to moisten”). * In the sense of armoured vehicle, prototypes were described as tanks for carrying water to disguise their nature and due to physical resemblance. First attested in 1915, but in common usage only as of 1916. Displaced landship, and mostly displaced battlewagon.
verb
- 1
To fail or fall (often used in describing the economy or the stock market); to degenerate or decline rapidly; to plummet.
He told me about all the odd jobs he'd taken after I was born, when Michigan's economy was tanking. For one, he crisscrossed the Midwest buying old carpets from dentists' offices.
"[...] If the economy has tanked... then we don't want to over-promise and under-deliver."
- 2
To fail or fall (often used in describing the economy or the stock market); to degenerate or decline rapidly; to plummet. to flop; drop in popularity (of a musician/group)
- 3
To attract the attacks of an enemy target in cooperative team-based combat, so that one's teammates can defeat the enemy in question more efficiently.
- 4
To put (fuel, etc.) into a tank.
Concrete below ground must be fully tanked to prevent water uptake.
Sometimes oils are tanked for months or years at a time (e.g., linseed oil).
- 5
To deliberately lose a sports match with the intent of gaining a perceived future competitive advantage.
Beforehand, Swedish [national ice hockey team] coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson had ruminated about tanking against Slovakia to avoid powerful Canada or the Czechs in the quarters [i.e., quarterfinals of the 2006 Winter Olympic tournament], telling Swedish television, "One is cholera, the other the plague."
- 6
slangTo resist damage; to be attacked without being hurt.
Unless Bane can tank Helicarrier-busting explosions I'm not sure how he stands a chance.
A weakened Superman tanked an explosion 50 times larger than the Kepler's Supernova and the electromagnetic shock wave hit him.
Barda could BFR and I doubt She hulk is tanking a blow from her rod, so she takes.
- 7
slangTo contemplate a decision for a long time; to go in the tank.
- 8
To stand; to tolerate.
- 9
To willingly take on an undesirable task or burden.
noun
- 1
A small Indian dry measure, averaging 240 grains in weight.
- 2
A Bombay weight of 72 grains, for pearls.
Forms
- plural
- tanks
- past tense
- tanked
- past participle
- tanked
- present participle
- tanking
- third person singular
- tanks