airport

[air-pawrt, -pohrt]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR airport ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a tract of land or water with facilities for the landing, takeoff, shelter, supply, and repair of aircraft, especially one used for receiving or discharging passengers and cargo at regularly scheduled times.

Origin of airport

1915–20; air¹ + port¹, on the model of seaport

airport

[air-pawrt, -pohrt]

noun Nautical.

a porthole designed to be opened to the outside air.

Origin of airport

First recorded in 1780–90; air¹ + port⁴

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for airport

runway, installation, airfield, airstrip, strip, hangar, heliport, airdrome, helipad

Examples from the Web for airport

Contemporary Examples of airport

It opens with Huckabee's dramatic recollection of going through security at the airport.
Huckabee 2016: Bend Over and Take It Like a Prisoner!
Olivia Nuzzi
January 8, 2015
That apparently includes some members of the management of the airport itself and some air traffic controllers.
Annoying Airport Delays Might Prevent You From Becoming the Next AirAsia 8501
Clive Irving
January 6, 2015
Her travel clique has been known to arrive at an airport, bags packed, passport-in-hand, within hours of spotting a deal.
‘We Out Here’: Inside the New Black Travel Movement
Charlise Ferguson
January 4, 2015
Tim Russert and I are driving back to the Albany airport after taking our kids to the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
Mario Cuomo, Always Moving Us Toward the Light
Mike Barnicle
January 4, 2015
Antoine, a 40-year-old DJ who works at the airport, says he fears for his children if the police stop doing their jobs.
Ground Zero of the NYPD Slowdown
Batya Ungar-Sargon
January 1, 2015

Historical Examples of airport

Hart met me at the airport and greeted me like a long-lost brother.
Astounding Stories of Super-Science July 1930
Various
Every airport in the land has been on the lookout for you all night.
Astounding Stories of Super-Science July 1930
Various
It had the name of the airport painted on the side in large letters.
Smugglers' Reef
John Blaine
They would be at the Grand Central airport in less than half an hour.
Janet Hardy in Hollywood
Ruthe S. Wheeler
They rolled through Rubio to the airport, which was just beyond the city limits.
Janet Hardy in Hollywood
Ruthe S. Wheeler

British Dictionary definitions for airport

airport

noun

a landing and taking-off area for civil aircraft, usually with surfaced runways and aircraft maintenance and passenger facilities

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for airport

1919, from air (n.1) + port (n.1). First reference is to Bader Field, outside Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S., which opened in 1910.