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tank suit

tank suit

1 3.2
A one-piece bathing suit for women with shoulder straps and no skirt
  • noun
  • /tæŋk suːt/
  • US
translation icon : traje de baño sin mangas
  • "Riker tried not to gape at the way she filled out her cutout tank suit.
  • a yellow tank suit
  • a black tank suit

Examples

  • As she was leaving, she'd pulled down the strap of her black tank suit and exhibited her breast to Louise.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • She decided to wear a blue tank suit for her day at the beach.

  • A red and yellow striped tank suit.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Mr. Taylor is not yet there, but as I leave, I notice the woman in the red and yellow tank suit has begun her laps.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • There is nothing in my locker but my tank suit, my goggles, a towel, and the like.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • The young woman in the red and yellow striped tank suit is still swimming, lapping at some fantastic rate, Mr. Taylor, who had himself taken up my lane.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • She was hugely pregnant in a green tank suit stretched tight, and I watched her underwater do a dreamy breaststroke back and forth.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • A scrawny prisoner in a too-large tank suit is dragged into the room by several gun-toting capos and shackled to the gurney.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • The lifeguard wore a stylish red tank suit during the summer competition.

  • After swimming, she changed out of her wet tank suit and into a warm towel.

Synonyms

bathing suit
vstank suit
  • US
96 1.0

A piece of clothing you wear for swimming

is more narrowly the women's one-piece with straps and no skirt
swimsuit
vstank suit
80 1.0

Clothing worn for swimming that covers the body

is specific about straps and lacking skirt or cutouts
swimwear
vstank suit
7 1.0

Clothes worn for swimming in a pool or at the beach

is one specific women's one-piece defined by straps and no skirt
swimming costume
vstank suit
  • UK
1 1.3

A tight piece of clothing you wear in the water

is a specific women's one-piece characterized by straps and no skirt
bathing costume
vstank suit
  • UK
1 3.4

Tight clothing people wear for swimming at a beach or pool

is narrower in form, defined by straps and no cutouts or skirt
maillot
vstank suit
9.9

A one-piece swimsuit for women that covers the body

is defined by shoulder straps and no skirt or cutouts

Surface Forms

tank suit singular
tank suits plural

Morphology

tank + suit

The compound is transparently built from 'tank' (as in a sleeveless 'tank top') + 'suit' (a garment), so the meaning 'a one-piece bathing suit with shoulder straps' is directly derivable from the constituents in a clothing context. This is a regular compositional clothing term found in many languages and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows the individual words (even if 'tank' is mostly known via 'tank top').

Etymology

The name tank suit comes from the older use of tank to mean a public 'swimming pool', where women often wore a simple 'one-piece' suit with shoulder straps. That's why tank suit now means a woman's one-piece bathing suit with straps and no skirt.