What's derivation of phrase "go into the tank?"

[Bill Haywood]

I know what it means, but where does the "tank" business come from?

[andyfox]

Research institutions are known as "think tanks."

[Johnny Hughes]

Maybe it comes from jail. Last time, I was in a holding cell, then the tank...a big cell. Sometimes called the drunk tank.

In my upcoming novel, Texas Poker Wisdom, I used a lot of the slang I have collected over fifty years. There are some expressiona that no one seems to know the origin of, such as Six Three is called Old Blocky. Why? The old Dudes I started playing with would say, "I thought he said a match.", when someone made a big bet. Never knew what it meant.

Johnny Hughes

[Bobo Fett]

From dictionary.com:

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go in the tank, Boxing Slang. to go through the motions of a match but deliberately lose because of an illicit prearrangement or fix; throw a fight.
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Elsewhere I read that the "tank" part might have come from the image evoked by "taking a dive"...perhaps diving in the "tank"?

[Zorlac]

I'm thinking Houdini in a straight jacket.

I could be wrong.


.Z

[syntaxjack]

If refers to the old sesory deprivation chambers. They called them 'the tank' and said it is the only way to think perfectly clear, without your other senses distracting you.

cheers,
SJ
Google: 'World Poker Clinic' ; it's cool.

[Bobo Fett]

[ QUOTE ]
From dictionary.com:

---------
go in the tank, Boxing Slang. to go through the motions of a match but deliberately lose because of an illicit prearrangement or fix; throw a fight.
----------

Elsewhere I read that the "tank" part might have come from the image evoked by "taking a dive"...perhaps diving in the "tank"?

[/ QUOTE ]
I should clarify...the "taking a dive" and diving in the "tank" I mentioned were still in reference to throwing a fight.

[Stagger_Lee]

Tennis players are also accused of 'tanking'

This seems to refer to the boxing example above, and is different to "going into the tank" - which means the "think tank".

[Sharikov]

It refers to a floatation tank. The American neurophysiologist Professor Dr John C. Lilly built a floatation thank in 1950s to investigate whether the origins of conscious activity lie within the brain. A floatation tank was used to eliminate all outside distractions such as sight, sound, touch, and gravity to determine whether the brain needed external stimuli to keep its conscious states going.