From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtanktank1 /tæŋk/ ●●● S2 W2 noun [countable] 1 DTa large container for storing liquid or gas The water tank is leaking. Somehow the chemical got from a storage tank into water supplies.fish/marine/breeding tank (=for keeping or breeding fish in) the plane’s fuel tankpetrol tank British English, gas tank American English2 (also tankful)AMOUNT the amount of liquid or gas held in a tank We set off next day on a full tank.tank of a tankful of petrol3 PMWa heavy military vehicle that has a large gun and runs on two metal belts fitted over its wheels4 DTa large artificial pool for storing water5 → in the tank → think tank, septic tank, drunk tank
Examples from the Corpus
tank• She had never seen a tank close to.• He opened up the lid of what must have been a fish tank holding their live catch.• Other options include 150-gallon fuel tanks, a nod to the thirst of the Shamu-size vehicles.• Only then could the swop, from one tank to another, take place.• In smaller tanks it is useful in corners and in larger tanks as a center piece.• Its creeping stock branches very quickly and rapidly make a thick green carpet completely covering the bottom of the tank.• My brackish water tank is built into a wall.• The hot water tank is leaking.• Anti-static absorbent cloths are available for use with tank cleaning preparations, and Quick Wipes for tank interiors.gas tank• Others squeeze their bodies into gas tanks.• This will also entail moving the gas tanks which feed over 200 point heaters in the station throat.• Find something to eat and fill up the gas tank and see what the day brought.• Then fill up the gas tank.tank of• When I left the house, the car only had a half tank of gas.tanktank2 verb 1 [intransitive] to decrease quickly or be very unsuccessful Not long after the chairman resigned, shares in the company tanked.2 [intransitive] British English informal to travel very fast in a car or vehicle3 [intransitive] informal to fail badly and be very unsuccessful SYN flop His last film tanked in the States, but did well in the UK.4 (also tank it) [transitive] to deliberately lose a sports game that you could have won → tank up→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
tank• But I was still getting hired to do movies, even though the films all appeared to be tanking.• Car buying tanked as Saturn's first car rolled off the assembly line.From Longman Business Dictionarytanktank /tæŋk/ noun American English in the tankFINANCE likely to fail and lose moneyWith the junk-bond market in the tank, smarter investors are trying to pick up other investmentsSales can’t keep going up at that rate, but that doesn’t mean the industry is going in the tank.Origin tank1 (1600-1700) Portuguese tanque “pool” 