airlock

English

Alternative forms

• air lock, air-lock

Etymology

From air +‎ lock.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

airlock (plural airlocks)

1. A sealed, airtight chamber, such as in a manned spacecraft or submarine, used to provide access to and from the sealed area without allowing air out or water in.
   • 2022 March 23, Paul Bigland, “HS2 is just 'passing through'”, in RAIL, number 953, page 42:

     At the head of the machine, we are shown the airlock through which people have to pass to work on the cutting head, as it operates under pressure to prevent leakages into the tunnel.

2. (architecture, informal) A vestibule, foyer or entranceway with doors to the exterior on one end and doors to the interior on the other, functioning to keep indoor and outdoor air, humidity, and air temperatures separate.

   Coordinate terms: mudroom, boot room

3. Alternative form of air lock.

Descendants

• → Japanese: エアロック (earokku)

Translations

sealed, airtight chamber

• Afrikaans: lugslot sg
• Arabic: غرفة معادلة الضغط
• Bengali: বায়ুকুলুপ (baẏukulup)
• Bulgarian: въздушен шлюз m (vǎzdušen šljuz)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 氣塞 / 气塞 (zh) (qìsāi), 氣閘艙 / 气闸舱 (qì zhá cāng)

• Danish: luftsluse c
• Dutch: druksluis f, luchtsluis (nl) f
• Esperanto: aerkluzo
• Finnish: ilmalukko (fi), ilmasulku
• French: sas (fr) m
• Frisian:

  West Frisian: loftslûs

• German: Luftschleuse f, Druckschleuse f
• Hebrew: מנעל אוויר
• Irish: aerbhac m, seomra aerdhíonach
• Italian: camera stagna f, camera d'equilibrio f
• Japanese: エアロック (earokku)
• Polish: śluza powietrzna f
• Portuguese: eclusa de ar f
• Russian: (атмосфе́рный OR перехо́дный) шлюз (ru) m (šljuz)
• Swedish: luftsluss c

vestibule or foyer

• Bulgarian: пруст (bg) (prust), трем (trem), вестибюл (bg) (vestibjul)
• Finnish: tuulikaappi (fi)
• Polish: pokój z drzwiami z obu stron m
• Swedish: luftsluss c, vindfång (sv) n

Verb

airlock (third-person singular simple present airlocks, present participle airlocking, simple past and past participle airlocked)

1. (transitive) To secure with an airlock.
2. (transitive) To dispose of through an airlock.
   • 2011 June 28, Kevin Anderson, Tales of the Bounty Hunters: Star Wars Legends, Random House Worlds, →ISBN:

     Delighted by the unexpected two-pelt bonus, he airlocked the meat. Wookiee tasted oily and foul.

   • 2019 September 6, S. J. Pajonas, First Flyght: A Reverse Harem Space Opera Romance, Onigiri Press, →ISBN:

     I'm glad I hid it when I arrived on board because I'm pretty sure Skylar would've airlocked it along with my trusty cardigan and my dirty sneakers if she found them.

   • 2019 November 4, Nick Adams, The Andromedan Fold: An explosive space opera adventure, Elliptical Publishing, →ISBN:

     I think he'd airlock me if he knew my real feelings.

3. (transitive, figurative) To firewall, to maintain an ethical wall.
   • 1998, Jonathan Reuvid, Doing Business with China, GMB Publishing, Limited:

     […] cosmetics manufacturing enterprises do not want to have wholesalers standing in the middle to mark up prices of their products, and this has in fact affected the competitiveness of the manufacturers and airlocked the manufacturers from consumer dynamics.