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airstrip

American  
[air-strip] / ˈɛərˌstrɪp /

noun

  1. a small landing field having only one runway.

  2. a temporary or auxiliary aircraft runway.

airstrip British  
/ ˈɛəˌstrɪp /

noun

  1. Also called: landing strip.  a cleared area for the landing and taking off of aircraft; runway

"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

Etymology

Origin of airstrip

First recorded in 1940–45; air 1 + strip 2

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It is known to have one of the world's most intimidating airstrips to land on - the Matekane Airstrip has a short runway and with long drops at both ends.

From BBC • Mar. 5, 2025

Madrag, also known as the Qayara Base Airstrip Camp, is home to some 2,500 families who fled from Mosul and a string of towns and villages west of the city.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 28, 2016

It may have gone over my head a little, but I always understood that when George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four and renamed Britain Airstrip One, he meant it as an insult.

From The Guardian • Apr. 13, 2010

Britain, freedom's old home, is "Airstrip One" and its people, A.D.

From Time Magazine Archive

This, he thought with a sort of vague distaste—this was London, chief city of Airstrip One, itself the third most populous of the provinces of Oceania.

From "1984" by George Orwell

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.