tank - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

A military tank.

From Portuguese tanque (“tank, liquid container”), from an Indo-Aryan language, likely Gujarati ટાંકી (ṭā̃kī, “cistern”) or Marathi टांकी (ṭāṅkī). Compare the Arabic verb اِسْتَنْقَعَ (istanqaʕa, “to become stagnant, to stagnate”). First attested in the 1610s.

tank (plural tanks)

  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.
    • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 29:
      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).[1]
  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. [from 1915]
    The journalist mistook the self-propelled artillery vehicle for a tank.
    Few remember the female tanks that were produced between the World Wars.
  7. (Australia, India) A reservoir or dam.
  8. (botany) A structure of tightly overlapping leaves used by some bromeliads to retain water.
  9. (colloquial) A very muscular and physically imposing person; somebody who is built like a tank.
  10. (UK, slang, dated, by extension) A bouncer or doorman.
  11. (roleplaying games, board games, video games) 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.
  12. (US, slang) A prison cell, or prison generally.
    The sheriff threw us in the tank without charges!
  1. (poker, slang) A metaphorical place where a player goes to contemplate a decision; see in the tank.
  2. (rail transport) Ellipsis of tank engine or tank locomotive.
  1. (clothing) Ellipsis of tank top.

Descendants

closed container for fluids

open container for liquids

fuel reservoir

armoured fighting vehicle

small pond in an animal pen

tank (not comparable)

  1. This term needs a definition. Please help out and add a definition, then remove the text {{[rfdef](/wiki/Template:rfdef#top "Template:rfdef")}}.
    tank beer
    tank mix

of armoured fighting vehicle

tank (third-person singular simple present tanks, present participle tanking, simple past and past participle tanked)

  1. To fail or fall (often used in describing the economy or the stock market); to degenerate or decline rapidly; to plummet.
    • 2008 October, Davy Rothbart, “How I caught up with dad”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 8, →ISSN, page 112:
      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.
    • 2022 October 5, “Network News: Private sector's role in a publicly-owned railway”, in RAIL, number 967, page 16:
      "[...] If the economy has tanked... then we don't want to over-promise and under-deliver."
  2. (video games) 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.
  3. (transitive) To put (fuel, etc.) into a tank.
    Concrete below ground must be fully tanked to prevent water uptake.
    • 1913, Geoffrey Martin, Industrial and manufacturing chemistry:
      Sometimes oils are tanked for months or years at a time (e.g., linseed oil).
  4. To deliberately lose a sports match with the intent of gaining a perceived future competitive advantage.
    • 2006 March 6, Michael Farber, “Swede Success”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎[3], Sports Illustrated, archived from the original on 4 November 2012:
      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."
  5. (fandom slang) To resist damage; to be attacked without being hurt.
    • 2015 March 1, DudeFuckMath, “Bane [DC] vs Iron Fist [Marvel]”, in Reddit (r/whowouldwin)‎[4], retrieved 19 June 2017:
      Unless Bane can tank Helicarrier-busting explosions I'm not sure how he stands a chance.
    • 2016 June 2, MercinWithAMouth, “Superman Stongest Feat Ever”, in Comic Vine Forums‎[5], retrieved 19 June 2017:
      A weakened Superman tanked an explosion 50 times larger than the Kepler's Supernova and the electromagnetic shock wave hit him.
    • 2016 July 22, Si-Phon Dom, “Big Barda Vs She Hulk”, in Comics Amino‎[6], retrieved 19 June 2017:
      Barda could BFR and I doubt She hulk is tanking a blow from her rod, so she takes.
  6. (originally poker, slang) To contemplate a decision for a long time; to go in the tank.
  7. (Singapore, colloquial) To stand; to tolerate.
  8. (Singapore, colloquial) To willingly take on an undesirable task or burden.

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

to resist damage; to be attacked without being hurt.

  1. ^ “tank”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

tank (plural tanks)

  1. A small Indian dry measure, averaging 240 grains in weight.[1]

  2. A Bombay weight of 72 grains, for pearls.[2]

  3. ^ “tank”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

  4. ^ 1858, Peter Lund Simmonds, The Dictionary of Trade Products

tank

  1. (Gressoney) thank you

Internationalism. From English tank, from Portuguese tanque, from Gujarati ટાંકી (ṭā̃kī).

tank (definite accusative tankı, plural tanklar)

  1. tank

tank m inan

  1. tank, armor

Borrowed from English tank.

tank c (singular definite tanken, plural indefinite tanke)

  1. tank (for storage)
    Synonym: beholder
  2. (informal) filling station, gas station (US), petrol station (UK), service station
    Synonym: tankstation

Borrowed from English tank (but later than the previous word).

tank c (singular definite tanken, plural indefinite tanks)

  1. tank (military fighting vehicle)
    Synonym: kampvogn

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

tank

  1. imperative of tanke

Borrowed from English tank.

tank m (plural tanks, diminutive tankje n)

  1. tank (storage reservoir)
  2. tank (armoured fighting vehicle with tracks and direct-fire gun)
    Synonym: vechtwagen
  3. (slang) a muscular, physically imposing man

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

tank

  1. inflection of tanken:
    1. first-person singular present indicative
    2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
    3. imperative

English tank.

tank m (plural tanks)

  1. tank (military vehicle)
    Synonyms: char, char d'assaut, char de combat
  2. (North America) tank (container)
    Synonym: réservoir

tank

  1. singular imperative of tanken
  2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of tanken

Orthographic borrowing from English tank.[1]

tank (plural tankok)

  1. tank (a closed container for liquids or gases)
  2. tank, fuel tank (the fuel reservoir of a vehicle)
    Synonym: üzemanyagtartály
  3. (military) tank, armoured fighting vehicle (military fighting vehicle)
    Synonyms: harckocsi, páncélkocsi, páncélos
  4. (photography) developing tank (a closed container used for developing film in a daylight environment)
    Synonym: előhívó tank
  1. ^ István Tótfalusi (2005), Idegenszó-tár: Idegen szavak értelmező és etimológiai szótára [A Storehouse of Foreign Words: An Explanatory and Etymological Dictionary of Foreign Words], Budapest: Tinta, →ISBN

Unadapted borrowing from Dutch tank, from English tank, from Portuguese tanque (“tank, liquid container”), originally from Indian vernacular for a large artificial water reservoir, cistern, pool, etc., for example, Gujarati ટાંકી (ṭā̃kī) or Marathi टाकी (ṭākī), from Prakrit 𑀝𑀁𑀓 (ṭaṃka). Doublet of tangki.

tank (plural **tank-tank)

  1. tank, an armored fighting vehicle, armed with a gun in a turret, and moving on caterpillar tracks

Unadapted borrowing from English tank.

tank m (invariable)

  1. tank (military and container)

  2. ^ tank in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Borrowed from English tank.

tank m (definite singular tanken, indefinite plural tanker, definite plural tankene)

  1. a tank (container, as below)
  2. (military, nonstandard since 2005) a tank (armoured fighting vehicle) (form removed with the spelling reform of 2005; superseded by tanks)
    Synonym: stridsvogn

Borrowed from English tank.

tank m (definite singular tanken, indefinite plural tankar, definite plural tankane)

  1. a tank (closed container for liquids or gases)
  2. (military, nonstandard since 2005) a tank (armoured fighting vehicle) ((pre-2005) alternative form of tanks)
    Synonym: stridsvogn

tank

  1. imperative of tanka

tank (noun 1 sense 1)

tank (noun 1 sense 2)

Borrowed from Russian та́нк (tánk), borrowed from English tank (or the English term was directly borrowed to Polish). First attested in 1922.

tank m inan(dated)

  1. tank (container for fluids)
    Hypernym: zbiornik
    duży tank ― big tank
    pojemność tanku ― tank's capacity
    stalowe tanki ― steel tanks
    • 1922, Stefan Żeromski, Wiatr od morza [Wind from the Sea]‎[7] (fiction), quoted in Narodowy Korpus Języka Polskiego, published 1957, archived from the original on 6 May 2006:
      Czy tanki wodne były zamknięte, czy otwarte — łódź stała.
      Whenever the water tanks were closed, or opened — the boat stood.
  2. (military) tank (armoured fighting vehicle)
    Synonym: czołg
    gąsienice tanków ― tank's caterpillar tracks
    lufy tanków ― tank's barrels
    niemieckie tanki ― German tanks
    radzieckie/ruskie/sowieckie tanki ― Russki/Soviet tanks
    rosyjskie/ruskie tanki ― Russian/Russki tanks

tank m animal

  1. (board games, roleplaying games, video games) tank (role playing character)[1]

  2. ^ “Tank”, in GRYOnline.pl‎[1] (in Polish) (dictionary), Webedia Polska SA, 26 April 2018, archived from the original on 25 February 2025

tank

tank c

  1. tank (container for liquids)

From English tank.

tank (definite accusative tankı, plural tanklar)

  1. tank