escape hatch
4
4.1
- noun
- /ɪˈskeɪp hætʃ/
:
salida de emergencia
- The jurors looked frantically about for an escape hatch.
- an emergency escape hatch
Examples
-
When the autopilot also failed, Mission Commander Samantha Carter stayed behind to fly it, while her crew bailed out of the escape hatch.
-
And I didn't really know what that escape hatch looked like.
-
Do you remember that little room with the escape hatch?
-
Every room had its own escape hatch and ladder.
Fiction book (1999) -
Grant moves into position under the emergency escape hatch, leading to the aisle of the coach section.
Fiction book (1996) -
She turns to Clemens, holding a candle in the gaping hole of the escape hatch.
Fiction book (1992) -
In case of an emergency, the airplane's escape hatch allows passengers to exit quickly.
-
The building is equipped with an escape hatch in the basement for quick evacuation during a fire.
-
When the alarm went off, she rushed to the escape hatch to get out of the crowded theater.
Synonyms
∞
2.0
An exit like a door that you use to leave a place
876
1.0
A way or chance to get something better, for example a job
363
1.0
An opening or way that lets people leave a place
140
3.7
A cover that closes an opening on a car or boat
17
2.6
A special door or stairway that lets people leave a building quickly in an emergency
12
3.3
A small door in a floor or ceiling that opens to a hidden space
4
7.0
An opening in a floor or ship deck that lets people go between levels
1
3.9
A door in a ship or plane that opens to the cargo area
Antonyms
How Fast
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'a provision or mechanism that lets someone get out or avoid obligations' is directly derivable from combining 'escape' (to get away/avoid) with 'hatch' (an opening or exit): it evokes a literal opening used to escape and thus functions as a straightforward metaphor meaning 'a way out'. This compounding/metaphor is common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Escape hatch is the small door or opening, a hatch, on a ship, plane, or submarine that people use to get out quickly in an emergency. The clear picture of a tiny door you open to 'escape' is why the phrase means a quick physical exit in danger.