▪ I. tanker1
(ˈtæŋkə(r))
[f. tank n.1 + -er1.]
1. a. A sea-going vessel fitted with tanks for carrying oil or other liquids in bulk. Cf. tank-boat, -steamer, -ship s.v. tank n.1 5.
| 1900 Boston Herald 17 Jan. 1/3 The wreck was a tanker. 1905 Daily News 20 Mar. 7 A tanker stood ready in the bay to take the English residents to a place of safety. 1920, etc. [see oil n.1 6 e]. 1923 R. D. Paine Comrades of Rolling Ocean iv. 73 There was only four of us floated ashore on a capsized boat after the blessed tanker turned turtle. 1950 Sun (Baltimore) 19 Oct. (B ed.) 4/3 It was in 1878 that he [sc. Gustav Conrad Hansen] first put his idea into practice, converting two sailing ships into tankers. 1962 R. H. Brown Dict. Marine Insurance Terms 281 A loaded tanker is usually low in the water. 1977 R.A.F. News 11–24 May 4/4 Two..dinghies attended by a Swedish tanker. |
b. A road or rail vehicle with a container designed for transporting fluids in bulk. (Freq. with qualifying word.) Cf. tank-truck, -wagon s.v. tank n.1 5.
| 1927, etc. [see oil n.1 6 e]. 1947 Times 8 Mar. 4/2 Milk tankers carrying supplies for 400,000 Londoners from creameries in Shropshire. 1951 ‘J. Wyndham’ Day of Triffids xvii. 300 With a hose from the tanker which held our main petrol supply I filled the half-track's tanks to overflowing. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 2 Feb. 74/1 [He] received fatal injuries..when his car was involved in a collision with a petrol tanker. 1978 J. Sherwood Limericks of Lachasse iii. 35 There were two big road tankers..in the car park. It was used as a safe overnight compound for tankers. |
c. An aircraft used for carrying fuel in bulk, esp. for the aerial refuelling of other craft.
| 1931 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXV. 1145 It is..possible that aircraft which had become obsolete as passenger carriers might be utilised as tankers..although..recent experiments indicate that refuelling in the air will best be accomplished by the use of tankers specially designed for their duty. 1950 C. H. Latimer-Needham Refuelling in Flight i. 1 Two aircraft were equipped as tankers..and{ddd}were fitted with a 50-ft. length of hose. 1979 J. Barnett Backfire is Hostile xiii. 145 The Russian carrier Kiev has flown off a number of strike aircraft at present refuelling from aerial tankers at low level. |
2. a. attrib. and Comb., as tanker aircraft, tanker load, tanker train, etc.
| 1938 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLII. 389 The aeroplane would then take off with a small quantity of fuel in the tanks..and the tanks would be filled in the air from the tanker aircraft. 1945 G. Millar Maquis iv. 57 What they don't booze they send off to their factories in tanker wagons to make explosives with. 1953 Times 31 Oct. 11/1 The tanker drivers' strike is out of the way. 1958 Ann. Reg. 1957 v. i. 360 The rise in tanker freights, and the greater use of the Cape route. 1965 D. Francis Odds Against xi. 150 We might not find Smith, the tanker driver. 1973 Country Life 29 Mar. 873/3 A 3,000-hen battery laying unit produces weekly a 600-gallon tanker load of cage manure. 1978 Times 16 Aug. 2/6 The tanker train ran out of control. The tanker guard is blamed. 1981 ‘D. Rutherford’ Porcupine Basin vii. 126 Two tanker-loading jetties pushed their long arms..out into the water. 1982 Daily Tel. 15 Dec. 24/4 Six TriStar aircraft are to be ordered from British Airways for use as strategic tanker aircraft for the RAF. |
b. Special Comb.: tanker man, a seaman who is a member of the crew of a tanker (sense 1 a above).
| 1932 Times 9 Mar. 15/6 What can be done to help these tanker-men to bear or to enrich their isolation? 1974 J. Dyson Prime Minister's Boat xxx. 179 Come sun-up, the tanker men could pick them off at their leisure. |
Hence as v. trans., to transport in tankers; ˈtankering vbl. n., the putting (of oil, etc.) into tankers.
| 1928 Daily Express 20 Feb. 13 Port Said, where the tankering costs the..Company {pstlg}1,000,000 annually. 1980 Times Jan. 15/4 Airlines..use a complicated logistics operation to ‘tanker’ fuel around the world to avoid particular airports where it is scarce and expensive. |
▪ II. tanker2
see tank n.7
▪ III. tanker3
see tank v.1
▪ IV. tanker
obs. form of tankard.