起源于1915年末的英语词汇列表

• tank（n.2）

  "armored, gun-mounted vehicle moving on continuous articulated tracks," late 1915; a special use of tank (n.1).

  In "Tanks in the Great War" [1920], Brevet Col. J.F.C. Fuller quotes a memorandum of the Committee of Imperial Defence dated Dec. 24, 1915, recommending the proposed "caterpillar machine-gun destroyer" machines be entrusted to an organization "which, for secrecy, shall be called the 'Tank Supply Committee,' ..."

  In a footnote, Fuller writes, "This is the first appearance of the word 'tank' in the history of the machine." He writes that "cistern" and "reservoir" also were put forth as possible cover names, "all of which were applicable to the steel-like structure of the machines in the early stages of manufacture. Because it was less clumsy and monosyllabic, the name 'tank' was decided on."

  They first saw action at Pozieres ridge on the Western Front, Sept. 15, 1916, and the name quickly was picked up by the soldiers. Tank-trap attested from 1920.