petrol tank
- noun
- /ˈpɛtrəl tæŋk/
- UK
:
tanque de gasolina
- He opened the petrol tank to check if there was enough fuel for the trip.
Examples
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The petrol tank of the car was empty, so we had to stop at a gas station.
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Did you fix the extra petrol tank?
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The petrol tank was down to a minimum.
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Les wants to see the petrol tanks.
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Pulling pranks, putting holes in petrol tanks.
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They often put extra petrol tanks on the roof, extra petrol tanks on the rear, little Jerry can's almost equivalent from that.
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Significantly, the chapter begins below ground: "There were six of us, scraping and cleaning the inside of an underground petrol tank; the daylight only reached us through a small manhole."
Academic text (2010) -
While the term used to describe the process of getting your vehicle filled with petrol or gasoline from a petrol tank is known as refueling, a similar operation performed for filling fuel oil into the ship tanks from an outside source is known as bunkering.
Academic text (2017) -
After filling the petrol tank, they continued their journey without any concerns about running out of fuel.
Synonyms
596
1.0
A large container that holds liquids or gases
35
1.8
A container on a car or bike that holds fuel for the engine
8
3.1
A large container that holds liquids like water in factories or farms
1
2.5
A part of a vehicle that holds gasoline for the engine
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a container in a vehicle for storing petrol' is directly and compositionally derived from 'petrol' (fuel) + 'tank' (a vessel for storing liquids), so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the phrase. This noun–noun compound follows a common, cross-linguistic vehicle/fuel naming pattern and is therefore transparently understood.
Etymology
The compound petrol tank shows the picture: petrol is 'fuel' and a tank is a metal container. Imagine a metal box under a car that holds the 'fuel' and sends it to the 'engine', so the phrase means the car's fuel container.