TOP

Definition of tank noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

tank

noun
 
/tæŋk/
 
/tæŋk/
jump to other results
  1. a large container for holding liquid or gas
    • a fuel/water/storage tank
    • a fish tank (= for keeping fish in)
    • He uses an oxygen tank to breathe.
    see also flotation tank, gas tank, petrol tank, septic tank, think tank
    Extra Examples
    • Put a little fish food into the tank.
    • The truck crashed into a wall and ruptured a fuel tank.
    • Firefighters sometimes need to use air tanks and special breathing masks.
    Topics The environmentb2, Transport by car or lorryb2, Sports: water sportsb2
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • empty
    • full
    • glass
    verb + tank
    • fill
    • refill
    • drain
    tank + verb
    • contain something
    preposition
    • in a/​the tank
    • into a/​the tank
    • tank of
    See full entry
  2. (also tankful
     
    /ˈtæŋkfʊl/
     
    /ˈtæŋkfʊl/
    )
    tank (of something) the contents of a tank or the amount it will hold
    • We drove there and back on one tank of fuel.
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • empty
    • full
    • glass
    verb + tank
    • fill
    • refill
    • drain
    tank + verb
    • contain something
    preposition
    • in a/​the tank
    • into a/​the tank
    • tank of
    See full entry
  3. a military vehicle covered with strong metal and armed with guns. It can travel over very rough ground using wheels that move inside metal belts.
    • Tanks rolled in to end the siege.
    • He's six feet tall and built like a tank (= has a solid, strong body).
    Topics War and conflictb2
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • armoured/​armored
    • army
    • battle
    verb + tank
    • climb into
    • get into
    • drive
    tank + verb
    • roll
    • advance
    • attack
    tank + noun
    • battalion
    • company
    • corps
    See full entry
  4. (Indian English) an artificial pool, lake or reservoir
  5. see also drunk tank
    Word Originearly 17th cent.: perhaps from Gujarati tānkũ or Marathi (a language spoken in the western Indian state of Maharashtra) tānke͂ ‘underground cistern’, from Sanskrit tadāga ‘pond’, probably influenced by Portuguese tangue ‘pond’, from Latin stagnum. The military vehicle took its name from the use of tank as a secret code word during manufacture in 1915.
See tank in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee tank in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
dizzy
adjective
 
 
From the Topic
Health problems
C1
Oxford Learner's Dictionaries Word of the Day