Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
Order by: alphabetical | chronological
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Law of Robotics n. (1944) | in the writing of Isaac Asimov: each of three (later sometimes four) rules devised to govern the behaviour of robots |
| legendarium n. (1951) | a body or system of myths, legends, stories, etc., concerning or relating to a particular fictional world; a work or body of work containing this |
| letterhack n. (1942) | a fan who frequently writes letters to magazine or fanzine letter columns |
| lifeboat n. (1907) | a small spacecraft designed for escaping from a damaged spaceship or space station; cf. lifeship n.; escape ship n. |
| lifeship n. (1930) | an emergency spacecraft; lifeboat n. |
| life tube n. (1930) | an escape pod having a cylindrical shape; cf. lifeboat n. |
| light n. 1 (1934) | = lightspeed, used as a unit of measure; cf. light-speed n. 2 |
| light n. 2 (1961) | a light year |
| light barrier n. 1 (1930) | a force field made of beams of light |
| light barrier n. 2 (1950) | the speed of light, as a theoretical limit of speed of any object |
| light-century n. (1908) | the distance light travels in 100 years |
| light-day n. (1933) | the distance light travels in 24 hours |
| light-hour n. (1920) | the distance light travels in one hour |
| light-minute n. (1914) | the distance light travels in one minute |
| light-month n. (1933) | the distance light travels in one month |
| lightsaber n. (1975) | in the fictional universe of the Star Wars franchise: a weapon resembling a sword, but having a destructive beam of light in place of a blade |
| light sail n. (1963) | = solar sail n. |
| light-second n. (1908) | the distance light travels in one second |
| lightspeed n. 1 (1856) | the speed of light |
| light-speed n. 2 (1929) | a unit of measure of speed equal to the speed of light; cf. light n. 1 |
| light-week n. (1934) | the distance light travels in one week |
| light-year n. (1864) | the distance light travels in one year |
| little green man n. (1907) | a intelligent humanoid inhabitant of outer space, esp. when regarded as stereotypical of hackneyed science fiction |
| loc n. (1961) | a letter written to a magazine, esp. a fanzine |
| loc v. (1962) | to write a loc (to) |
| Loonie n. (1941) | a native or inhabitant of the Moon; = Lunarian n.; Lunite n.; Lunarite n. |
| Lovecraftian n. (1944) | a devotee or follower of H.P. Lovecraft |
| Lovecraftian adj. (1927) | of, relating to, or characteristic of the writing of H. P. Lovecraft, esp. in featuring elements of supernatural and often existential horror |
| lox n. (1965) | plural of loc |
| Luna n. (1876) | the Moon |
| Luna City n. (1934) | the main city on the Moon |
| Lunarian n. (1708) | a native or inhabitant of the Moon |
| Lunarian adj. (1705) | of or relating to the Moon |
| Lunarite n. (1888) | a native or inhabitant of the Moon; = Lunarian n.; Lunite n. |
| lunarscape n. (1908) | a landscape on the Moon |
| Lunite n. (1928) | a native or inhabitant of the Moon; = Lunarian n.; Lunarite n. |