Civil Engineering. an airtight chamber permitting passage to or from a space, as in a caisson, in which the air is kept under pressure.
the impedance in the functioning of a pump or a system of piping caused by the presence of an air bubble; vapor lock.
First recorded in 1855–60
First recorded in 1855–60
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Anticipation and tension grew as the crew prepared to open the hatch on the craft that has no air lock, or doorway between the vacuum outside and the rest of the spacecraft.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2024
Demond pushed his way through a double-door air lock and into a series of chilly storerooms.
From Slate ● Mar. 30, 2023
Then, in an air lock and still suited, each will take a 10-minute shower that sprays them from all sides with a chemical detergent.
From New York Times ● Nov. 23, 2021
It deflated enough to allow Mr. Leonov to enter the capsule’s air lock headfirst, but the change in pressure left him at risk of decompression sickness.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 12, 2019
He was wearing his space suit, but he didn’t want to take the time to decon out through the air lock.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
He had to film a few moments of footage in which Roy emerges from an air-lock door and leaps into open space—the lead-in to the climax of the film.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 9, 2019
It was something more than an extension of the newspaper: for some a home from home, for others an air-lock between the desk and suburbia.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 2, 2019
There were also the air-lock steel doors that swung open, saloon-style, dozens of times a day, as miners in mantrips crossed over the primary tunnel providing fresh air.
From New York Times ● Apr. 23, 2010
When he had finished, whether with meal tray or bedpan, he put it in a plastic bag that went out through the air-lock after a pause for ultraviolet to sterilize its exterior.
From Time Magazine Archive
They felt their way down the dark air-lock corridor, opened the far door, and crossed over to the hot side.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
