airlock.

1. A chamber with controlled doors that allows passage between spaces while limiting air exchange.

2. A pocket of air that prevents liquid from flowing normally through a pipe or system.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• pressure airlock
• airlock chamber

On the page

They waited in the airlock until the pressure equalized.

Usage notes

Primary category: sci-fi. Forms: Singular airlock; plural airlocks. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: description, technology. Commonness: moderately common.