tank

plural tanks

1. A closed container for liquids or gases.

   The propane is stored in these tanks.

   2 more examples

   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.

   1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 29

2. An open container or pool for storing water or other liquids.

   The contractors installed a new tank with gorgeous fish and corals.

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   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.

   1896, Henry Lawson, Out Back

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 armored fighting vehicle, armed with a gun designed for direct fire, and moving on caterpillar tracks.First known use 1915

   The journalist mistook the self-propelled artillery vehicle for a tank.

   2 more examples

   Few remember the female tanks that were produced between the World Wars.

   Tank beats everything! Oh, man! I could do this all day!

   2007 September 25, Bungie, Halo 3, Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox 360, level/area: The Ark

   Synonyms: battle tank, combat tank, armour, tango

7. IndiaNew South Wales (Australia)A reservoir or dam (as it is known in the rest of Australia).
8. biologyA structure of tightly overlapping leaves used by some bromeliads to retain water.
9. colloquialA very muscular and physically imposing person; somebody who is built like a tank.
10. UKbroadlydatedslangA bouncer or doorman.
11. roleplaying games; board games; roleplaying games; board gamesvideo gamesA unit or character designed primarily around damage absorption and holding the attention of the enemy (as opposed to dealing damage, healing, or other tasks).

    See also: distraction carnifex

    1 more example

    The paladin can make for a decent tank, but I recommend that you get a class with better taunting skills.

12. USslangA prison cell, or prison generally.

    drunk tank

    2 more examples

    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.

    1985 April 13, Philip Brasfield, “Echoes Inside of What's Outside”, in Gay Community News, page 4

13. slangcard gamesA metaphorical place where a player goes to contemplate a decision; see in the tank.
14. abbreviationellipsisrail transportEllipsis 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.

    1952 February, R. A. H. Weight, “A Railway Recorder in Wessex”, in Railway Magazine, page 133

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    Before their conversion to 4-6-0 tender locomotives, the L.B. & S.C.R. Baltic tank engines Nos. 330 to 334 measured 50 ft. 5 in. over buffers; the nearest present approach to this figure is the 49 ft. 10½ in. of the remaining ex-Lancashire & Yorkshire Hughes type 4-cylinder 4-6-4 tanks of the L.M.S.R. The Furness and G. & S.W.R. 4-6-4 tanks of the same company, all now scrapped, were, respectively, 49 ft. 1½ in. and 47 ft. 8 in. long.

    1941 September, “The Why and the Wherefore: The Longest Tank Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, pages 431–432

15. abbreviationellipsisbusinessEllipsis of tank top.

    T-BACK COTTON TANK

    1990 November 18, “Earl’s Reebok Sale for the Holidays”, in Granite City Press-Record Journal, volume 6, number 46, Granite City, Ill., →OCLC, page 8A

    3 more examples

    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.

    2008, Nora Roberts, Tribute, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →ISBN, page 206

    I was wearing a tank and some cotton pants.

    2022, Robyn Henderson-Espinoza, Body Becoming: A Path to Our Liberation, Minneapolis, Minn.: Broadleaf Books, 1517 Media, →ISBN

    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.

    2023 August 9, Brooke Kato, “Gen Z loves the ‘wife beater’ tee — but they’re canceling the name”, in New York Post, New York, N.Y.: News Corp, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 Aug 2023

present singular third person tanks · participle present tanking · participle past tanked · past tanked

1. To fail or fall (often used in describing the economy or the stock market); to degenerate or decline rapidly; to plummet.

   "[...] If the economy has tanked... then we don't want to over-promise and under-deliver."

   2022 October 5, “Network News: Private sector's role in a publicly-owned railway”, in RAIL, number 967, page 16

   1 more example

   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.

   2008 October, Davy Rothbart, “How I caught up with dad”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 8, →ISSN, page 112

   1. Internetto flop; drop in popularity (of a musician/group)
2. video gamesTo 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.
3. transitiveTo put (fuel, etc.) into a tank.

   Concrete below ground must be fully tanked to prevent water uptake.

   1 more example

   Sometimes oils are tanked for months or years at a time (e.g., linseed oil).

   1913, Geoffrey Martin, Industrial and manufacturing chemistry

4. To deliberately lose a sports match with the intent of gaining a perceived future competitive advantage.

   1 more example

   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."

   2006 March 6, Michael Farber, “Swede Success”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), Sports Illustrated, archived from the original on 04 Nov 2012

5. slanglifestyleTo resist damage; to be attacked without being hurt.

   Barda could BFR and I doubt She hulk is tanking a blow from her rod, so she takes.

   2016 July 22, Si-Phon Dom, “Big Barda Vs She Hulk”, in Comics Amino, retrieved 19 Jun 2017

   2 more examples

   Unless Bane can tank Helicarrier-busting explosions I'm not sure how he stands a chance.

   2015 March 1, DudeFuckMath, “Bane [DC] vs Iron Fist [Marvel]”, in Reddit (r/whowouldwin), retrieved 19 Jun 2017

   A weakened Superman tanked an explosion 50 times larger than the Kepler's Supernova and the electromagnetic shock wave hit him.

   2016 June 2, MercinWithAMouth, “Superman Stongest Feat Ever”, in Comic Vine Forums, retrieved 19 Jun 2017

6. slangTo contemplate a decision for a long time; to go in the tank.
7. SingaporecolloquialTo stand; to tolerate.
8. SingaporecolloquialTo willingly take on an undesirable task or burden.

plural tanks

1. A small Indian dry measure, averaging 240 grains in weight.
2. A Bombay weight of 72 grains, for pearls.

1. A city in Tank district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
2. A district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.