air lock

noun

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 The air lock butyl bladder is added for air retention during regular play. — Chris Hachey, BGR, "Best Soccer Ball," 12 Mar. 2021 Like the story about Naomi trying to commit suicide by air lock, for instance. — Clint Worthington, Vulture, "The Expanse’s Dominique Tipper on Naomi Nagata’s Hard Time in ‘Hard Vacuum’," 25 Jan. 2021 One of them was the air lock situation, and the time around when Filip was taken from me. — Clint Worthington, Vulture, "The Expanse’s Dominique Tipper on Naomi Nagata’s Hard Time in ‘Hard Vacuum’," 25 Jan. 2021 The insurrectionists of January 6 bypassed that air lock and headed straight for the closed doors. — Justin Davidson, Curbed, "Can an Armored Capitol Still Be the People’s House?," 14 Jan. 2021 Ryzhikov and Kud-Sverchkov, on their first spacewalk, spent nearly two hours doing extra leak checks before exiting from an air lock. — Fox News, "Spacewalking astronauts prep for 2021 arrival of Russian lab," 18 Nov. 2020 Ryzhikov and Kud-Sverchkov, on their first spacewalk, spent nearly two hours doing extra leak checks before exiting from an air lock. — NBC News, "Spacewalking astronauts prep for 2021 arrival of Russian lab," 18 Nov. 2020 The two astronauts mounted the satellite on a tray, called a slide table, which rolled on tracks through an air lock to the outside. — Raffi Khatchadourian, The New Yorker, "Read More," 21 Sep. 2020 Feustel initiated the slide table, and the cube entered the air lock. — Raffi Khatchadourian, The New Yorker, "Read More," 21 Sep. 2020

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.

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about air lock

Dictionary Entries near air lock

Statistics for air lock

Last Updated

22 Mar 2021

Cite this Entry

“Air lock.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/air%20lock. Accessed 10 Apr. 2021.

Style: MLA

MLA

Chicago

APA

Merriam-Webster Check Mark Icon

Keep scrolling for more

More Definitions for air lock

air lock

noun

English Language Learners Definition of air lock

: a small room that has two doors which can be sealed tightly so that no air enters or leaves and that is used for moving between two spaces with different air pressures in a submarine, spaceship, etc.

See the full definition for air lock in the English Language Learners Dictionary