tank up

British  

verb

1. to fill the tank of (a vehicle) with petrol

2. slang to imbibe or cause to imbibe a large quantity of alcoholic drink

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tank up Idioms  

1. Fill a gas tank with fuel, as in As soon as we tank up the car we can leave . [First half of 1900s]

2. Drink to the point of intoxication. F. Scott Fitzgerald used this expression in The Great Gatsby (1926): “I think he'd tanked up a good deal at luncheon.” This expression often is put in the passive, meaning “be or become intoxicated,” as in My roommate really got tanked up last night . [ Slang ; c. 1900]

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Example Sentences

“Some people stop to tank up on fuel.”

From Washington Post • Apr. 3, 2023

The family have to fill their tank up three times a year, which cost £750 in 2020 but now costs £3,325.

From BBC • Sep. 22, 2022

Like Larry, most of the people who stopped by the station didn’t fill their tank up all the way, instead putting $10 on pump 5, $20 on pump 3 or $13 on pump 1.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 9, 2022

Gas cars can tank up in seconds and return to the track for another couple of hours.

From New York Times • Sep. 3, 2020

You can tank up and give me the news in small chunks at the same time.

From Bransford of Rainbow Range Originally Published under the title of Bransford in Arcadia, or, The Little Eohippus by Rhodes, Eugene Manlove