H. G. Wells

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H. G. Wells

See first quotes from H. G. Wells

24 Quotations from H. G. Wells

ant-man n. 1901 H. G. Wells First Men in Moon xxii. 272 These ant-like beings, these ant-men.
atomic engine n. 1914 H. G. Wells Last War in the World in Century Magazine Feb. iii. 571/1 The swift aëroplane, with its atomic engine as noiseless as a dancing sunbeam.
chrononaut n. [1888 H. G. Wells in Science Schools Journal Apr. (title) The Chronic Argonauts.]
dimension n. 1923 H. G. Wells Men Like Gods 22 And now he imagines himself in some sort of scientific romance and out of our world altogether. In another dimension.
dimension n. 1896 H. G. Wells Plattner Story in New Review Apr. 352 To put the thing in technical language, the curious inversion of Plattner’s right and left sides is proof that he has moved out of our space into what is called the Fourth Dimension, and that he has returned again to our world.
earthly adj. 1908 H. G. Wells in Cosmopolitan Magazine Mar. 340/1 The same reason…will make the forms of the Martian animal kingdom laxer and flimsier…than earthly types.
earthshine n. 1901 H. G. Wells First Men in Moon in Strand Magazine May xx. 506/1 I had extinguished the light again lest it should fail me in the end; I was in darkness save for the earth shine and the glitter of the stars below me.
Earthward adv. 1898 H. G. Wells The War of the Worlds I. i. 10 And, all unsuspected, those missiles the Martians had fired at us drew earthward, rushing now at a pace of many miles a second through the empty gulf of space, hour by hour and day by day, nearer and nearer.
heat ray n. 1897 H. G. Wells War of Worlds vi, in Pearson’s Magazine May 492/1 Only the fact that a hummock of heathery sand intercepted the lower part of the Heat Ray saved them.
Martian n. 1 1898 H. G. Wells War of Worlds i. v. 31 The glimpse I had had of the Martians emerging from the cylinder in which they had come to the earth from their planet.
Martian adj. 1898 H. G. Wells War of Worlds ii. ii. 210 Long before the Martian invasion.
outer space n. 1901 H. G. Wells First Men in Moon iii. 45 After all, to go into outer space is not so much worse, if at all, than a polar expedition.
parallel universe n. 1923 H. G. Wells Men Like Gods v. 51 We accept your main proposition unreservedly; namely, that we conceive ourselves to be living in a parallel universe to yours, on a planet the very brother of your own, indeed quite amazingly like yours, having regard to all the possible contrasts we might have found here.
ray n. 1897 H. G. Wells War of Worlds vi, in Pearson’s Magazine May 492/1 Only the fact that a hummock of heathery sand intercepted the lower part of the Heat Ray saved them.
somewhen adv. 1894 H. G. Wells Refinement of Humanity in National Observer 21 Apr. 582/1 ‘But,’ said the medical man, ‘even if man in the future no longer need [sic] strength to fight against other men or beasts, he will still need a sufficient physique to resist disease.’ ‘That is the queer thing,’ said the Time Traveller; ‘there was no disease. Somewhen between now and then your sanitary science must have won the battle it is beginning now. Bacteria, or at least all disease causing bacteria, must have been exterminated. I can explain it in no other way.[’]
space gun n. 1 1935 H. G. Wells Things to Come 12 The stormy victory of the new ideas as the Space Gun fires and the moon cylinder starts on its momentous journey.
space journey n. 1901 H. G. Wells First Men in Moon xx, in Strand Magazine May 507/2 All through the major portion of that vast space journey I hung thinking of such immaterial things.
time n. 1895 H. G. Wells in New Review Jan. 99 You have to admit that time is a spatial dimension,…and then all sorts of remarkable consequences are found inevitable. Among others, that it becomes possible to travel about in time.
time machine n. 1894 H. G. Wells in National Observer 17 Mar. 472/2 (title) The time machine.
time traveller n. 1894 H. G. Wells Sunset of Mankind in National Observer 28 Apr. 608/1 ‘There,’ said the Time Traveller, ‘I am unable to give you an explanation. All I know is that the climate was very much warmer than it is now.’
time traveller n. 1895 H. G. Wells Time Machine i. 1 The Time Traveller (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us.
time traveller n. 1894 H. G. Wells Refinement of Humanity in National Observer 21 Apr. 582/1 ‘But,’ said the medical man, ‘even if man in the future no longer need [sic] strength to fight against other men or beasts, he will still need a sufficient physique to resist disease.’ ‘That is the queer thing,’ said the Time Traveller; ‘there was no disease. Somewhen between now and then your sanitary science must have won the battle it is beginning now. Bacteria, or at least all disease causing bacteria, must have been exterminated. I can explain it in no other way.[’]
time-travelling n. 1894 H. G. Wells in National Observer 17 Mar. 446/2 (heading) Time travelling: possibility or paradox.
time-travelling n. 1895 H. G. Wells Time Machine iv. 28 I am afraid I cannot convey the peculiar sensations of time travelling. They are excessively unpleasant.