tank, v.¹ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

tank v.¹

[SE tank, a swimming pool, thus the boxer ‘takes a dive’]

1. (also go into the tank) to abandon deliberately, to give up, poss. for illicit monetary gain, esp. in boxing.

1961		J. Scarne Complete Guide to Gambling 692: Tanked or Tank job – crooked, as in prize fight. ‘The bookies say the fight is tanked.’.
1988		P. Corris ‘Box on!’ in Man in Shadows 141: D’you really think I’d train like this just to go into the tank?’.
1991		D. Jenkins You Gotta Play Hurt 63: [T]hese disappointments had something to do with our boys tanking their last game to Nigeria, which had never played hockey before.
1997		P. Corris Washington Club [ebook] [of a tennis match] ‘I tanked the last game’.
2001		D. Jenkins Money-Whipped Steer-Job 213: I could throw off, tank the deal, miss the cut, and be off the reservation by Friday night .
2010		P. Corris Torn Apart 117: [S]uspicion arose about him attempting to influence players to tank games.
2015		(con. 1919) C. Fountain Betrayal 2: [R]umors they had heard around Chicago that summer about the Cubs taking money to tank the 1918 World Series.

2. to fail.

1943		‘Whitman College Sl.’ in AS XVIII:2 Apr. 154/2: tank. To fail.
1986		Eble Campus Sl. Mar.
1997–2000		Da Bomb 🌐 28: Tank: To not perform well when the pressure is on.
1998		A. Warner Sopranos 196: It was obvious she was going to tank it.
2005		J. Stahl I, Fatty 266: As the economy tanked, he saw his deals go down the toilet.
2010		J. Ellroy Hilliker Curse 13: She won a beauty contest, tanked a screen test and returned to Chicago.
2019		D. Winslow Border [ebook] They didn’t want to see his grades tanking, the letter on his ‘attitude’ going from ‘E’ to ‘U’—Excellent to Unsatisfactory.
2022		G.M. Graff Watergate 321: Felt believed he stood a good chance of taking over the bureau if Gray’s nomination tanked .
2023		Byline Times Sept. 4/1: The Prime Minister may be tanking in the national polls, but he seems to have given up on winning the public over ages ago.

3. to cause to fail.

2023

(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 139: Fail-safes should Cleo tank the studio [...] Monroe’s antics tanked Got to Give.

tanksville (adj.)

in a state of poverty.

2023

(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 28: I needed the work. I’d been tanksville for months.

tank fight (n.)

a contest in which one fighter has been bribed to lose.

1960, 1975

Wentworth & Flexner DAS.

tank job (n.) (also tank act)

a corrupt sporting contest with a pre-arranged result, thus wider use, see cites 1951, 2023.

1938		D. Runyon ‘The Big Umbrella’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 557: She can spot a tank job as far as anybody. [Ibid.] 558: The dough is rolling in on Spider and Jonas just with tank acts.
1961		J. Scarne Complete Guide to Gambling 692: Tanked or Tank job – crooked, as in prize fight. ‘The bookies say the fight is tanked.’.
1962		Farbar ‘Hundred Dollar Eyes’ in Algren Lonesome Monsters (1963) 48: Why didn’t you tell me it was going to be a tank job?
1951		C. Stoker Thicker ’n Thieves 228: [U]pon occasion the district attorney merely ‘punches the bag’ for public edification, having no intention of convicting the criminal before the bar of justice. [...] in the parlance of questionable legal maneuvering it is known as a ‘tank job,’ or a ‘boat ride’ .
1991		P. Corris Wet Graves [ebook] They probably discussed electric saddles and quick counts, ring-ins and tank jobs.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 224: It was a tank job [...] Soime shit guys shot infrared of me and the Gwen chick going at it.