gas-chamber

A worker operates the gas-chamber in a fruit storage facility.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A sealed room used for execution: A "gas-chamber" is an airtight room designed to kill people or animals by introducing a poisonous gas.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The animals were killed in a gas-chamber at the slaughterhouse. (A sealed room used for exterminating livestock.)
  • During the Holocaust, many victims were sent to gas-chambers. (A room used for mass execution during World War II.)

Advanced Usage

• "to be sent to the gas-chamber": to be executed in such a room.
  • The condemned prisoner was sentenced to death and sent to the gas-chamber. (The prisoner was killed by poison gas.)

Variants and Related Words

• Gas chamber (n): another common spelling of the same word (with a space).

  • The gas chamber was used for capital punishment in some U.S. states. (A room for execution by gas.)

• Gas-oven (n): a similar device used for killing animals, often a smaller sealed container.

  • The laboratory used a gas-oven to euthanize the mice. (A sealed oven-like device for gas poisoning.)

Synonyms

• Execution chamber: a room used for carrying out a death sentence.
• Killing room: a general term for a room where living beings are put to death.

Related Idioms

• Into the gas chamber: a metaphorical phrase meaning to face certain doom or a hopeless situation.
  • The company was heading into the gas chamber of bankruptcy. (The company was facing inevitable failure.)