Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Tank in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels tank as noun. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913noun
Tank

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

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordtank
Part of speechnoun
Historical etymology[Pg. tanque, L. stangum a pool; or perhaps of East Indian origin. Cf. Stank, n.]
Selected historical definitionA large basin or cistern; an artificial receptacle for liquids.
Signed record IDwebster1913-tank-noun-daa25ba041bc
Source locatorCIDE.T, paragraph 919; Gutenberg eBook 669
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 669Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "tank" is labeled noun. Its etymology is recorded as: "[Pg. tanque, L. stangum a pool; or perhaps of East Indian origin. Cf. Stank, n.]" The selected historical definition says: "A large basin or cistern; an artificial receptacle for liquids."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

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