Akademik

(in.VAK.yoo.ayt)

v.

To cause people to remain within a building as a safety precaution while a dangerous situation exists outside of the building.

— invacuation n.

Fun and games in the City yesterday, when a suspect car extended many a lunch break. "It was parked in an illegal area and the way it was parked seemed suspicious," a police spokesman tells me. "As a result, parts of Gresham Street, Cheapside, Cannon Street, London Bridge, London Wall, Fenchurch Street and Threadneedle Streets were cordoned off at 14.03."

The cordon was lifted just over an hour later, when the car's driver was tracked down (no doubt lugging his Christmas shopping back from Royal Exchange). Not before, however, the Bank of England was "invacuated".

Good word, I tell the cops — presumably it means no one can go out? "And they have to congregate in a secure place: usually the basement."

That's where the gold's kept: did they pass the time counting what's left after Gordon Brown's selling spree? Sadly we'll never know — the Bank refuses to divulge its invacuation procedure "for security reasons".

— Adam Jay, "Now here's a word to conjure with...," The Daily Telegraph, December 12, 2002

Issues that have arisen from the Audit include: fire extinguishers, emergency procedures, management of contractors, accuracy of data, storage of radioactive items, violence/abuse, evacuation/invacuation procedures.

— "Focus on human resource management," South Australian Department of Education and Children's Services, June 22, 2001

This word is the twin of evacuate, to cause people to leave a dangerous place. Invacuate hasn't caught on in the media yet, but it seems to have found a home — most often as the noun invacuation — in the world of safety procedures and what-do-to-in-case-of-emergency documents, particularly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.