A long narrow piece of prepared land where aircraft can land and take off, typically smaller and less developed than an airport.
From 'air' (from Old English and Old Norse origins meaning the atmosphere) combined with 'strip' (a long narrow piece). This is a 20th-century compound word created when aviation became common.
Remote military bases and small towns in the Amazon can operate airstrips instead of full airports because you really just need a flat, clear strip of land—which is why some airstrips are literally just compressed dirt in the middle of nowhere.
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