tanker

Etymology

tank + -er

noun

1. (nautical) A tankship, a vessel used to transport large quantities of liquid.
   The channel at Chan-chiang is being dredged to a depth of 50 feet enabling tankers of 70,000 tons to call. 1976 March, JeNelle Matheson, Construction Equipment A Market Assessment for the People's Republic of China, U.S. Department of Commerce, →OCLC, page 8
2. (automotive, US) A tank truck.
3. (automotive, UK) A fuel tanker, petrol tanker, road tanker.
4. (aviation, usually military) An aircraft carrying a large supply of jet fuel or avgas for aerial refueling of other aircraft, plus equipment allowing the in-air transfer of fuel.
   Without the KC-46 tankers orbiting in friendly airspace, our fighters would've run out of fuel long before reaching the combat zone.
5. (aviation, firefighting) An aircraft built or modified to carry water and/or fire retardant for dropping on wildfires.
   While our ground teams cut firebreaks in the brush, the tankers kept the fire in the mountains at bay with frequent drops of water and retardant.
6. (rail transport) A tank car.
7. (military) Member of a tank crew, or of an armoured unit.
   On February 19, 1943, American tankers felt the full wrath of the German Army in North Africa when its tank-led spearhead punched a 2-mile-wide hole through American lines at Faid Pass in Tunisia, […] 2014, Michael Green, American Tanks & AFVs of World War II, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 70
8. (surfing slang) A longboard.
   I swung the tanker around just in time to take off with the lip.

verb

1. (transitive) To transport (oil, etc.) in a tanker.
2. (aviation) To carry more fuel than necessary for a flight, in order to avoid having to refuel at a destination where fuel is more expensive or in short supply.