air lock

Definition of air lock

1 : an intermediate chamber with two airtight doors or openings to permit passage between two dissimilar spaces (such as two places of unequal atmospheric pressure)

2 : a stoppage of flow caused by air being in a part where liquid ought to circulate

Examples of air lock in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web In the wild, the fish thankfully don’t have to be flung manually into the air lock; if all goes well, they’re attracted naturally through a combination of habitat mimicry and manipulation to enter the chamber on their own. — Aja Romano, Vox, "These unanswered questions are fueling speculation about the sex offender’s life and death.," 11 Aug. 2019 Finally, a person floats weightlessly into an air lock. — Rhett Allain, WIRED, "The Many Shades of Bad Physics," 8 June 2018 In practice, a warming Arctic strains the jet stream’s ability to keep all that cold polar air locked away in the north. — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "Why the Eastern U.S. Is So Cold Right Now," 29 Dec. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'air lock.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Air lock.” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/air%20lock. Accessed 8 December 2019.

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