The Collaborative International Dictionary
Tank \Tank\ (t[a^][ng]k), 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.
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A pond, pool, or small lake, natural or artificial.
We stood in the afterglow on the bank of the tank and saw the ducks come home.
--F. Remington.The tanks are full and the grass is high.
--Lawson. (Mil.) 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.
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a jail cell for temporarily holding prisoners, as in a police station.
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 (Zo["o]l.), a small nematoid worm found in the water tanks of India, supposed by some to be the young of the Guinea worm.
Wiktionary
n. a type of steam locomotive train which carries its own fuel and water in the same unit, and so does not pull a tender
WordNet
n. a locomotive that carries its own fuel and water; no tender is needed [syn: tank locomotive]
Usage examples of "tank engine".
A pre-war Chinese tank engine that had been cannibalized years ago, nothing more than a collection of barcoded spare parts, keeping old trains on the branch lines serviceable.
James was interviewing a large woman in a pin-striped suit and a monocle, who looked not unlike Thomas the Tank Engine.
In the dry run, the first time the horse heard the tank engine start, he voided his bowels and then jerked loose from his handler and galloped wildly away with half a dozen field-grade officers in hot pursuit.
He thought of Thomas the Tank Engine wallpaper and the Mr Men lamp, until they were so close he could almost taste them.
Besides, I'd rather she knew something of Abraham and Moses and Jesus than of Barney and Lambchop and Thomas the Tank Engine.
In the Thomas the Tank Engine series, we even have anthropomorphic locomotives and railway cars, charmingly portrayed.
A few days later a tank engine puffed along the line with five bogie waggons laden with steel plate, and three days after that the rattling clamour of a pneumatic riveter burst from the yards.