tank

See also: Tank and tänk

English

A military tank.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tæŋk/
  • Rhymes: -æŋk

Etymology 1

From Portuguese tanque (“tank, liquid container”), originally from Indian vernacular for a large artificial water reservoir, cistern, pool, etc., for example, Gujarati ટાંકી (ṭāṅkī), or Marathi टांकें (take). Compare the Arabic verb اِسْتَنْقَعَ‎ (istanqaʿa, “to become stagnant, to stagnate”).

In the sense of armoured vehicle, to disguise their nature, prototypes were described as tanks for carrying water [from 1915] as well as physical resemblance..

Noun

tank (plural tanks)

  1. A closed container for liquids or gases.
  2. An open container or pool for storing water or other liquids.
  3. A pond, pool, or small lake, natural or artificial.
    • Lawson
      The tanks are full and the grass is high.
  4. The fuel reservoir of a vehicle.
  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 in a turret, and moving on caterpillar tracks.
  7. (Australian and Indian English) A reservoir or dam.
  8. (Southwestern US, chiefly Texas) A large metal container for holding drinking water for animals, usually placed near a wind-driven water pump, in an animal pen or field.
  9. (Southwestern US, chiefly Texas) By extension a small pond for the same purpose.
  10. (slang) A very muscular and physically imposing person. Somebody who is built like a tank.
  11. (role-playing 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)
  12. (US, slang) A prison cell, or prison generally.
Synonyms
  • (military fighting vehicle): battle tank, combat tank, armour (mass noun), tango (Canadian military slang)
Hypernyms
Hyponyms
  • (military fighting vehicle): infantry tank (historical), cavalry tank (historical), fast tank (historical), cruiser tank (historical), superheavy tank (historical), tankette (historical), bobbin tank (historical), light tank, medium tank, heavy tank, main battle tank, MBT, flail tank, flame tank, flamethrower tank
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
Descendants
Translations

Verb

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.
  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. To put fuel into a tank
  4. To deliberately lose a sports match with the intent of gaining a perceived future competitive advantage.
    • Farber, Michael (March 6, 2006), “Swede Success”, in (Please provide the title of the work)‎, Sports Illustrated, retrieved February 5, 2011
      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)‎, retrieved 2017-06-19:
      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, retrieved 2017-06-19:
      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, retrieved 2017-06-19:
      Barda could BFR and I doubt She hulk is tanking a blow from her rod, so she takes.

Etymology 2

Noun

tank (plural tanks)

  1. A small Indian dry measure, averaging 240 grains in weight.
  2. A Bombay weight of 72 grains, for pearls.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Simmonds to this entry?)

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for tank in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Anagrams

Alemannic German

Interjection

tank

  1. (Gressoney) thank you

References

  • Umberto Patuzzi, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar, Luserna: Comitato unitario delle linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Czech

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /taŋk/
  • Rhymes: -aŋk

Noun

tank m

  1. tank, armor

Declension

Derived terms

  • tankový

Further reading

  • tank in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
  • tank in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

Danish

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English tank.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /taːnk/, [tˢæːŋɡ̊]

Noun

tank c (singular definite tanken, plural indefinite tanks)

  1. tank (military fighting vehicle)
Declension
Synonyms

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tank/, [tˢɑŋ̩ˀɡ̊]

Noun

tank c (singular definite tanken, plural indefinite tanke)

  1. tank (for storage)
  2. (informal) filling station, gas station (US), petrol station (UK), service station
Declension
Synonyms

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English tank.

Pronunciation

  • (Belgium) IPA(key): /tɑŋk/
  • (Netherlands) IPA(key): /tɛŋk/
  • Audio(file)

Noun

tank m (plural tanks, diminutive tankje n)

  1. tank (military armoured fighting vehicle with tracks)
    Synonym: vechtwagen
  2. tank (storage reservoir)

Verb

tank

  1. first-person singular present indicative of tanken
  2. imperative of tanken

Anagrams

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English tank.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tɑ̃k/
  • Audio(file)

Noun

tank m (plural tanks)

  1. tank (military vehicle)
  2. tank (container, Quebec French)

Synonyms

  • (military tank): char

Further reading

German

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /taŋk/
  • Rhymes: -aŋk

Verb

tank

  1. Imperative singular of tanken.
  2. (colloquial) First-person singular present of tanken.

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English tank.

Noun

tank m (invariable)

  1. tank (military and container)

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowed from English tank.

Noun

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

  1. a tank (container, as below)

Derived terms

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tank/ (example of pronunciation)

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English tank.

Noun

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

  1. a tank (closed container for liquids or gases)
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Verb

tank

  1. imperative of tanka and tanke

References

Swedish

tank

Noun

tank c

  1. tank (container for liquids)

Declension

Declension of tank 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative tank tanken tankar tankarna
Genitive tanks tankens tankars tankarnas

See also

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