Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction

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First date Word Definition
1981 Jedi mind trick n. (1981) in the fictional universe of the Star Wars franchise: a telepathic technique of psychological manipulation used by the Jedi
1981 jump engine n. (1981) = jump drive n.
1981 SF/F n. (1981) science fiction and fantasy, regarded as a single broad genre
1981 skin job n. 2 (1981) a robot that has skin; (spec.) an android that cannot easily be distinguished from a human
1981 Tuckerized adj. (1981) (of a fictional character) bearing the name of a real person; (of a real person) appearing as the name of a fictional character
1981 utopian adj. (1981) possessing or regarded as having impossibly or extravagantly ideal conditions in respect of politics, customs, social organization, etc.
1981 Whoniverse n. (1981) the fictional universe used as the setting for the British television series Doctor Who; (also) any media, fandom, etc. connected to Doctor Who
1981 xenoanthropologist n. (1981) a person who studies alien cultures; a specialist in xenoanthropology n.
1980 carbonite n. (1980) a carbon-based material in which a person can be cryogenically preserved
1980 Darth n. 2 (1980) (used as a title before the name of someone regarded as evil or an enemy)
1980 replicant n. 1 (1980) an artificial being in the form of a human or other creature; an android
1980 uplift v. (1980) to transform a non-sentient species into a sentient species, esp. by genetic engineering
1980 uplift n. (1980) the making of a sentient species from a non-sentient one, esp. by genetic engineering
1980 uplifting n. (1980) = uplift n.
1980 xenopsychologist n. (1980) a specialist in xenopsychology n.
1979 beanstalk n. (1979) = space elevator n.
1979 coreward adj. (1979) toward the center of a galaxy; cf. core n.
1979 cyborgization n. (1979) the conversion of a biological organism into a cyborg n.
1979 filk singer n. (1979) one who sings filk songs
1979 gameplay n. (1979) the (characteristic) way in which a player interacts with an (electronic) game; the tactical aspects of play, such as rules, plot, etc., as distinct from graphics or sound effects
1979 generation starship n. (1979) = generation ship n.
1979 gravitied adj. 2 (1979) having artificial gravity
1979 gynoid n. (1979) a robot having female or feminine characteristics; = robotrix n.
1979 SF/F/H n. (1979) abbreviation for science fiction, fantasy, and horror
1979 xenocidal adj. (1979) of, pertaining to, or involving xenocide n.
1978 dirtball n. (1978) a planet
1978 downtime adj. (1978) esp. in time-travel contexts: in or from the past; cf. uptime adj.
1978 filk v. (1978) among science fiction and fantasy fans: to write or perform filk songs
1978 frak v. (1978) (a euphemism for) fuck, in various senses and parts of speech
1978 infodump n. (1978) a large (often unwieldy or indigestible) amount of information supplied all at once; spec. as background or descriptive information in a narrative
1978 K/S n. (1978) a subgenre of science fiction, originally published in fanzines and now esp. online, in which the Star Trek characters Kirk and Spock are portrayed as having a homosexual relationship; (later) any similar fiction in which a pair of (established) male characters is so portrayed
1978 military SF n. (1978) = military science fiction n.
1978 planetary romance n. (1978) a subgenre of science fiction that focuses on adventures taken on a planet's surface, especially in which the description of the planet is integral to the story; a work in this subgenre