Added 9 October 2026
tank
/ˈtæŋk/ noun
In Latin: lacus First recorded: 1915 Wiktionary
noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about tank at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
adjective
-
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tank beer
verb
- To fail or fall (often used in describing the economy or the stock market); to degenerate or decline rapidly; to plummet. to flop; drop in popularity (of a musician/group)
- to flop; drop in popularity (of a musician/group)
- 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.
noun
Origin
From Portuguese tanque (“tank, liquid container”), from an Indo-Aryan language, likely Gujarati ટાંકી (ṭā̃kī, “cistern”) or Marathi टांकी (ṭāṅkī). A false friend can be found in North Germanic: dunk (“canister, keg”), 17th c. tönk, which appears derived from both Low German tunneke, Dutch tonneke (diminutive of "barrel"), and dunka (“to dunk, to dip under water, to moisten”). * In the sense of armoured vehicle, prototypes were described as tanks for carrying water to disguise their nature and due to physical resemblance. First attested in 1915, but in common usage only as of 1916. Displaced landship, and mostly displaced battlewagon.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)