diff --git a/docs/usage/general/environment.rst.inc b/docs/usage/general/environment.rst.inc
index bdec4219f..46cd6bf25 100644
--- a/docs/usage/general/environment.rst.inc
+++ b/docs/usage/general/environment.rst.inc
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ General:
         So, if you have a all-zero MAC address or other reasons to better externally control the host id, just set this
         environment variable to a unique value. If all your FQDNs are unique, you can just use the FQDN. If not,
         use fqdn@uniqueid.
+    BORG_LOCK_WAIT
+        You can set the default value for the ``--lock-wait`` option with this, so
+        you do not need to give it as a commandline option.
     BORG_LOGGING_CONF
         When set, use the given filename as INI_-style logging configuration.
         A basic example conf can be found at ``docs/misc/logging.conf``.
diff --git a/src/borg/archiver/_common.py b/src/borg/archiver/_common.py
index c223c236f..7b504d46c 100644
--- a/src/borg/archiver/_common.py
+++ b/src/borg/archiver/_common.py
@@ -468,7 +468,7 @@ def define_common_options(add_common_option):
         metavar="SECONDS",
         dest="lock_wait",
         type=int,
-        default=1,
+        default=int(os.environ.get("BORG_LOCK_WAIT", 1)),
         help="wait at most SECONDS for acquiring a repository/cache lock (default: %(default)d).",
     )
     add_common_option(