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vapor lock

American  

noun

  1. an obstruction to the flow of fuel to a gasoline engine, caused by the formation of bubbles in the gasoline as a result of overheating.


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.

See Examples For:

It's like a vapor lock for his brain.

From Salon Jun. 13, 2022

When faced with such an oversupply of choice, our little lizard brains go straight to vapor lock.

From Time May 28, 2010

It's something more pernicious: the vapor lock that seems to have seized Toyota's mythologized corporate culture and turned one of the most admired companies in the world into a bunch of flailing gearheads.

From Time Feb. 11, 2010

The first fuel truck they sent out to the plane had a vapor lock.

From Los Angeles Times Dec. 6, 1996

It creates a massive vapor lock, as it were, in mammalian fuel lines: The body is prevented from turning what it eats into a source of usable energy.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer

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