Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
Order by: alphabetical | chronological
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| spindizzy n. (1950) | in James Blish’s City in Flight series: a faster-than-light antigravity drive powered by a field that alters the magnetic rotation of atoms |
| splatterpunk n. 1 (1987) | a subgenre of horror fiction characterized by the frequent and graphic description of grisly violence, bloody deaths, and extreme sexual situations; (in later use also) a similar genre of movies, video games, etc. |
| splatterpunk n. 2 (1987) | an author of splatterpunk writing |
| spy ray n. (1934) | a ray that allows a user to detect sound, images, or thoughts at a distant location or through a barrier |
| Standard n. (1952) | (the name of) a language spoken on multiple worlds or by multiple species; the common language of a group or place; cf. Galactic n. 2 |
| starbase n. (1944) | an outpost in space, or on a planet remote from the homeworld, used to facilitate military, governmental, or commercial activities |
| star drive n. (1948) | a propulsion device for a spaceship capable of interstellar travel, esp. one that permits the ship to travel faster than light; cf. earlier space drive n. |
| starfarer n. (1961) | an interstellar traveller |
| starfaring n. (1973) | interstellar traveling |
| starfaring adj. (1960) | pertaining to interstellar travel |
| starfleet n. (1939) | an organized group of starships, esp. one under military control; a division of a military responsible for interstellar activities |
| stargate n. (1958) | a portal or device that transports something to another point in the universe (usually another such location or device) in a manner that bypasses the intervening space; cf. gate n., jump gate n. |
| star lane n. (1939) | = space lane n. |
| star liner n. (1932) | = space liner n. |
| starport n. (1950) | a place where (interstellar) spacecraft can take off and land; = spaceport n. |
| starship n. (1926) | a spaceship capable of interstellar travel |
| star system n. (1929) | a planetary system; = solar system n. |
| starway n. (1932) | an established route between stars; usu. pl. starways the realm of space travel in general; cf. spaceway n. |
| stasis field n. (1942) | an enclosed area within which time is stopped |
| steampunk n. 1 (1987) | a writer of steampunk n. 2 |
| steampunk n. 2 (1987) | a subgenre of science fiction which has a historical setting (esp. based on industrialized, nineteenth-century society) and characteristically features steam-powered, mechanized machinery rather than electronic technology |
| steampunkish adj. (1993) | of, pertaining to, or characteristic of steampunk n. 2 |
| stellar cartography n. (1883) | a branch of cartography concerned with astronomical objects; (occas. cap.) an organizational unit or work area devoted to this; cf. astrogation n. |
| stf n. (1931) | = science fiction n. 2 |
| stfcon n. (1942) | a science fiction fan convention |
| stfdom n. (1944) | the realm of science fiction |
| stfnal adj. (1937) | = science fictional adj. |
| stun gun n. (1946) | a weapon that renders a victim unconscious or incapacitated without causing serious injury; cf. earlier stunner n. |
| stunner n. (1941) | = stun gun n. |
| Sturgeon’s Law n. (1960) | a humorous aphorism which maintains that most of any body of published material, knowledge, etc., or (more generally) of everything is worthless: based on a statement by Theodore Sturgeon, usually later cited as ‘90 per cent of everything is crap’ |
| sub-creation n. (1947) | J. R. R. Tolkien’s word for: the action or process of creating a fully realized and internally consistent imaginary or secondary world n. |
| sub-creator n. (1947) | J. R. R. Tolkien's word for: a person who creates a secondary world (see sub-creation n.); (later also more generally) an author regarded as occupying the position of God in relation to his or her own fictional creation |
| sub-ether n. (1930) | the medium through which faster-than-light signals propagate, sometimes conceived as being on a smaller scale than "ether" |
| subetheric adj. (1938) | of, relating to, or involving a sub-ether n. (esp. with allusion to a supposed means of faster-than-light communication) |