tankies

Noun

tankie (plural tankies)

1. (UK, historical, slang) A member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) who supported the Soviet Union's policy of crushing revolts in Hungary in the 1950s and Czechoslovakia in the 1960s by sending tanks into those countries.
   • [W]e also desired to shock the staid older party members and the tankies. The tankies and softliners differed as to what sort of magazine Challenge should be.1985, Terry Bushell, “Softliners and Tankies”, in Marriage of Inconvenience: An Anglo-Soviet Alliance, London: André Deutsch, →ISBN, page 10
2. (broadly, slang, typically derogatory) A supporter of policies and actions by the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, or other authoritarian socialist governments.
   • Near-synonym: authcom
3. (slang) A soldier from a tank regiment.
   • Obviously a thrust by the tankies over the ridge and through the minefield was just not on, there and then in broad daylight, a fact they appeared to recognise. At that stage the Germans were well positioned to give them a warm reception with their powerful 88s and other artillery.1981, Noel “Wig” [Frank] Gardiner, “A Team Talk with the Tankies”, in Freyberg's Circus: Reminiscences of a Kiwi Soldier in the North African Campaign of World War II, Auckland: Ray Richards...
4. (slang) A tank engine.
   • The "tankies", as they were known, shunted empty carriages from Copley Hill sidings onto the buffers at Leeds […]1987, The Railway Magazine, volume 133, London: IPC Magazines, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 382

See all 5 meanings of tankie