tank

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

tank, n. 

 A small Indian dry measure, averaging 240 grains in weight; also, a Bombay weight of 72 grains, for pearls.  Simmonds.  [1913 Webster]

tank, n. [Pg. tanque, L. stangum a pool; or perhaps of East Indian origin. Cf. Stank, n.].

•  A large basin or cistern; an artificial receptacle for liquids.  [1913 Webster]
•  A pond, pool, or small lake, natural or artificial.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

  "We stood in the afterglow on the bank of the tank and saw the ducks come home."

  "The tanks are full and the grass is high."  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
•  a heavily armored combat vehicle which moves on caterpillar treads, rather than wheels. It typically carries a cannon and a heavy machine, and sometimes other weapons. It is the main distinguishing weapon of an armored division.  [PJC]
•  a jail cell for temporarily holding prisoners, as in a police station.  [PJC]

Tank engine, a locomotive which carries the water and fuel it requires, thus dispensing with a tender. -- Tank iron, plate iron thinner than boiler plate, and thicker than sheet iron or stovepipe iron. -- Tank worm (Zoöl.), a small nematoid worm found in the water tanks of India, supposed by some to be the young of the Guinea worm.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

tank, n. & v.
--n.
1 a large receptacle or storage chamber usu. for liquid or gas.
2 a heavy armoured fighting vehicle carrying guns and moving on a tracked carriage.
3 a container for the fuel supply in a motor vehicle.
4 the part of a locomotive tender containing water for the boiler.
5 a Ind. & Austral. a reservoir. b dial. esp. US a pond.
--v. (usu. foll. by up) esp. Brit.
1 tr. fill the tank of (a vehicle etc.) with fuel.
2 intr. & colloq. tr. (in passive) drink heavily; become drunk.

Idiom

tank engine a railway engine carrying fuel and water receptacles in its own frame, not in a tender. tank-farming the practice of growing plants in tanks of water without soil. tank top a sleeveless, close-fitting upper garment with a scoop-neck.

Derivative

tankful n. (pl. -fuls). tankless adj.

Etymology

Gujurati tankh etc., perh. f. Skr. tadaga pond

THESAURUS

tank

Pullman, Pullman car, archives, armory, arsenal, artificial lake, attic, bag, baggage car, bank, barrel, basement, basket, bay, bayou lake, bin, bonded warehouse, bookcase, bottle, box, box up, boxcar, bunker, buttery, caboose, can, capsule, car, cargo dock, carriage, carton, case, cask, cellar, chair car, chest, cistern, closet, coach, coal car, conservatory, covered waggon, crate, crib, cupboard, dam, day coach, dead water, depository, depot, dike, diner, dinghy, dining car, dock, drawer, drawing room, dump, encase, encyst, etang, exchequer, farm pond, fishpond, flat, flatcar, freshwater lake, glacial lake, glory hole, godown, gondola, hamper, hold, hutch, inland sea, jar, lagoon, laguna, lake, lakelet, landlocked water, library, linn, local, loch, locker, lough, luggage van, lumber room, lumberyard, magasin, magazine, mail car, mail van, mere, millpond, millpool, nyanza, oxbow lake, pack, package, palace car, parcel, parlor car, passenger car, plash, pond, pondlet, pool, pot, puddle, rack, railway car, reefer, refrigerator car, repertory, repository, reservoir, rick, roomette, sack, salina, salt pond, shelf, sleeper, smoker, smoking car, stack, stack room, stagnant water, standing water, still water, stock room, stockcar, storage, store, storehouse, storeroom, sump, supply base, supply depot, tarn, tender, tidal pond, tin, treasure house, treasure room, treasury, truck, van, vat, vault, volcanic lake, waggon, warehouse, water hole, water pocket, well, wine cellar

ROGET THESAURUS

tank

Store

N store, stock, fund, mine, vein, lode, quarry, spring, fount, fountain, well, wellspring, milch cow, stock in trade, supply, heap, treasure, reserve, corps de reserve, reserved fund, nest egg, savings, bonne bouche, crop, harvest, mow, vintage, store, accumulation, hoard, rick, stack, lumber, relay, storehouse, storeroom, storecloset, depository, depot, cache, repository, reservatory, repertory, repertorium, promptuary, warehouse, entrepot, magazine, buttery, larder, spence, garner, granary, cannery, safe-deposit vault, stillroom, thesaurus, bank, armory, arsenal, dock, gallery, museum, conservatory, menagery, menagerie, reservoir, cistern, aljibar, tank, pond, mill pond, gasometer, budget, quiver, bandolier, portfolio, coffer, conservation, storing, storage, keep, file (papers), lay in, preserve, Adj, stored, in store, in reserve, in ordinary, spare, supernumerary, adde parvum parvo magnus acervus erit.