depressurize
/diːˈprɛʃərʌɪz
/(also depressurise)
verb [with object]
1Release the pressure of the gas inside (a pressurized vehicle or container): O’Kelly depressurized the cabin...
- The flight engineer began to depressurize the aircraft to prevent a rapid decompression from occurring if the EDC failed during the descent.
- Entering the shuttle by the tiny airlock would be time consuming and I wondered why Pete hadn't depressurized the cabin and let them in through the main cargo hatch.
- By the time someone got to him, the man had already torn away the door's interior panelling and was about to depressurize the cabin.
1.1 [no object] (Of a pressurized vehicle or container) lose pressure: I waited for the deck to depressurize...
- His private jet depressurised, causing the crew and passengers to lose consciousness.
- She also imparts potentially useful, if not exactly reassuring, tips on what to do when your plane depressurizes: you have slightly less than thirty seconds to put on that dangling oxygen mask before you lose consciousness.
- Cocking her head in confusion, she pushed the lock release on the keypad next to the door, causing the door to slide open with an acrimonious hiss as the door depressurized.
Derivatives
depressurization
/ noun ...- And if it was, indeed, open, there would be a number of other problems, including depressurization.
- Rapid depressurisation continued and the First Officer donned his oxygen mask.
- Among these were two emergencies - occurring within a period of four months - involving fire and depressurization, two of the most dangerous things that can happen to a spacecraft in orbit.