tank up

Pronunciation

A man in New Hampshire, USA, tanking up his car with gas (sense 1)

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtæŋk ʌp/

Verb

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

1. (transitive, Canada, US) To fill up (a tank in a vehicle with gas, petrol, etc.).
2. (transitive, intransitive, slang) To intoxicate oneself, especially with alcohol.
   • 1922 November 25, A[rthur] M[urray] Chisholm, “A Thousand a Plate”, in Western Story Magazine, volume XXX, number 4, New York, N.Y.: Street & Smith Corporation, OCLC 11910542, chapter II, page 93, column 1:

     "Thanksgiving eve," he repeated. "We was to have a leetle celebration Thanksgiving eve." And he added somewhat anxiously: "You ain't forgot about that, Bill? It's an awful long time since we had a drink." / "Last time you had too many," Skookum Bill reminded him. / "What if I had?" Dobbs asked, in injured tones. "I get durn little fun in life, and I'm gettin' old. About the only time I feel good and like I used to is when I'm tanked up. Wait twenty years and you'll know."