stank
To dam up; to block the flow of water or other liquid.
Water-courses are stanked where they take a sharp turn, to prevent the force of the current wearing away the bank at the outside angle.
To pack in tightly.
They never dreamed of using a float; I doubt if there was such a thing in the whole valley; but they “stanked' their rods in the bank, with the line heavily shotted and arranged so that the hook was just clear of the bottom, the line being at right angles to the point of the rod.
To seal off an area of the mine in which a fire has started.
The writer was obliged, a few months ago, to open out a whole district which had been "stanked off " ( as the phrase of the district is ) for over a year, and on approaching the old air-way the heat became intolerable and the fire was burning as badly as ever.
Where it comes from
From Old French estanc, (French étang), from Latin stagnum (“a pool”). Compare stagnant, stagnate.
Adapted from the Wiktionary entry stank (CC BY-SA 4.0).