tanking

Verb

tank (third-person singular simple present tanks, present participle tanking, simple past and past participle tanked)

1. To fail or fall (often used in describing the economy or the stock market); to degenerate or decline rapidly; to plummet.
   • He told me about all the odd jobs he'd taken after I was born, when Michigan's economy was tanking. For one, he crisscrossed the Midwest buying old carpets from dentists' offices.2008 October, Davy Rothbart, “How I caught up with dad”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 8, →ISSN, page 112
   1. (Internet) to flop; drop in popularity (of a musician/group)
2. 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.
3. (transitive) To put (fuel, etc.) into a tank.
   • Concrete below ground must be fully tanked to prevent water uptake.
4. To deliberately lose a sports match with the intent of gaining a perceived future competitive advantage.
   • Beforehand, Swedish [national ice hockey team] coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson had ruminated about tanking against Slovakia to avoid powerful Canada or the Czechs in the quarters [i.e., quarterfinals of the 2006 Winter Olympic tournament], telling Swedish television, "One is cholera, the other the...2006 March 6, Michael Farber, “Swede Success”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), Sports Illustrated, archived from the original on 04 Nov 2012
5. (slang) To resist damage; to be attacked without being hurt.
   • Unless Bane can tank Helicarrier-busting explosions I'm not sure how he stands a chance.2015 March 1, DudeFuckMath, “Bane [DC] vs Iron Fist [Marvel]”, in Reddit (r/whowouldwin), retrieved 19 Jun 2017

See all 26 meanings of tank