holding tank

noun

A container for storage toilet waste in a vehicle

Meanings

nounholding tank (plural holding tanks)

plural holding tanks

  1. A container for storage toilet waste in a vehicle
  2. A holding cell
    1 more example

    After arriving at the Area A police station, I renewed my protests that as a working reporter with visible police credentials, I should not have been arrested. The desk sergeant insisted that I be booked, however, and I was put into the holding tank, a fifteen-by-fifteen dark and filthy cell, with 49 other people.

    1983 December 24, Larry Goldsmith, “Cops Bust 70 Anti-Nuke Demonstrators”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 23, page 6
Cite this entry
APA

holding tank. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holding%20tank

MLA

“holding tank.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holding%20tank. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “holding tank,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holding%20tank.

Source: holding tank on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.