air lock

noun

a chamber that provides access to space where air is under pressure

• Syn: ↑airlock

• Hypernyms: ↑chamber

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noun

1. : an air space with two airtight doors or openings for permitting entrance to or exit from a sealed-off space under pressure (as a ship's stokehole) or vacuum: as

a. : an intermediate chamber between the outer air and the working chamber of a pneumatic caisson

b. : the chamber in an electron microscope between outer air and inner vacuum

c. : the entrance chamber to a gas-proof shelter

2. : a stoppage of flow (as in a pumping device) caused by air being in a part where liquid ought to circulate — compare vapor lock

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1. Civ. Eng. an airtight chamber permitting passage to or from a space, as in a caisson, in which the air is kept under pressure.

2. the impedance in the functioning of a pump or a system of piping caused by the presence of an air bubble; vapor lock.

[1855-60]

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air lock,

1. an airtight compartment between places where there is a difference in air pressure. The pressure in an air lock can be raised or lowered.

2. a decompression chamber.

3. the blocking of a liquid's flow, as through a tube, caused by the presence of air.

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noun, pl ⋯ locks [count]

: 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.