Newest Quotations

Word Quotation Date Added
hyperspace n. 2022 A. T. Sayre Big Day in Analog Science Fiction & Fact Mar.–Apr. 117/1 The Pilgrim will be the first attempt to use hyperspace as a mode of travel for matter. 2024-03-18
terraformation n. 1984 I. Asimov The World of the Red Sun in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Jan. 119 Life begins relatively close to a star and…in red-giant time, retreat to the outer regions would involve such extensive terraformation as to be prohibitive. 2024-02-15
terraformation n. 1999 B. Stableford Hidden Agendas in Asimov’s Science Fiction Sept. 80 It would be the logical means for intelligent species to use in beginning the colonization of other worlds—what used to be called Terraformation. 2024-02-15
terraformation n. 2023 E. Nesvold Off-Earth vi. 103 Terraformation is the ultimate example of long-term planning, as even optimistic estimates predict it would take centuries of effort and patience before a human could walk unprotected on the surface of Mars. 2024-02-15
terraformation n. 1983 B. Sterling Cicada Queen in T. Carr Universe 13 163 Lichens would drench Mars in one green-gold tidal wave of life. They would creep irresistibly from the moist craters of the iceteroid impacts, proliferating relentlessly amid the storms and earthquakes of terraformation. 2024-02-15
terraformation n. 2015 R. Morrison Terrorformer (Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor) (unpaged) When the tower fell, it severed the connection that Rann-Korr was using to manipulate the terra-sphere. With that connection gone, we used the Tardis as a conduit to reverse-engineer the terraformation. 2024-02-15
terraformation n. 1975 H. Peirce High Yield Bondage in Galaxy Aug. 80/1 India…announced from Gandhi-opolis-on-the-Grand-Canal that the terraformation of Mars had begun. 2024-02-15
terraformation n. 1971 B. M. Stableford In the Kingdom of the Beasts (1974) 51 The idea of terraformation did occur to me, but I rejected it. 2024-02-15
terraforming n. 1972 P. Anthony Hard Sell in Worlds of If July–Aug. 158/2 This property is not adaptable for terraforming purposes. 2024-02-15
terraforming n. 1957 P. Anderson Brake in Astounding Science Fiction Aug. 13/1 A genuine Engineer, nursemaiding the terraforming equipment which was the Thunderbolt’s prime cargo, the great machines which the Order would use to make Europa habitable. [Ibid. 34/1] Even after the alleged terraforming, Ganymede hasn’t enough atmosphere. 2024-02-15
time war n. 2019 A. El-Mohtar & M. Gladstone This Is How You Lose the Time War (title) This Is How You Lose the Time War. 2024-01-25
time war n. 1953 C. E. Maine Highway J in Planet Stories Nov. 16/2 Next thing there’ll be time wars—with the people of one age fighting other people of another age, who are either unborn or long dead. 2024-01-25
time war n. 1950 P. Anderson Flight to Forever in Super Science Stories Nov. 22/2 Among other things they forbade was time travel. But it had never been popular with anyone since the Time War, when a defeated Directorate army had leaped from the twenty-third to the twenty-fourth century and wrought havoc before their attempt at conquest was smashed. 2024-01-25
time war n. 1960 L. Carter Have Time, Will Travel! in Fantastic Universe Jan. 101/1 Fritz Leiber, Jr.…had two obscure, opposed races called the Snakes and the Spiders fighting a time-war using humans plucked from a wide variety of erats who zoomed around the timestream assassinating Cleopatra, kidnapping the infant Einstein, etc., changing history in the future. 2024-01-25
time war n. 1972 H. Harrison Cast-Iron Rat in Worlds of If Feb. 85/2 He was alive. I had wiped out his organization in this happy year of 1975 A.D. but He had gone on to bigger and worse nastiness in another era. The time war was on again. 2024-01-25
time war n. 1987 I. Watson Milk of Knowledge in Aboriginal Science Fiction Sept.–Oct. 59/2 It is the fate of history itself—and therefore of the present—at the hands of whoever goes in…. A sort of wildly dangerous time-war is going on. 2024-01-25
time war n. 1998 P. Brazier in Interzone (#130) Apr. 62/3 A rather charmingly ordinary story about criminals setting up a time path back to Babylon in order to provoke a time war that Benny has to avert. 2024-01-25
changewar n. 2009 W. Barton Sea of Dreams in Asimov’s Science Fiction Oct.–Nov. 177 ‘Wark Fan’shih has tried to track down and destroy all the hyperdoors throughout human history, on all the probabilistic timelines except the one he controls. His goal is to seal off metahistory so nothing can influence his own fate. My avatars are all that stand in his way.’ Imagine that. Changewar? Not quite, but pretty close. 2024-01-25
changewar n. 2001 D. D’Ammassa in Science Fiction Chronicle Oct. 45/2 Anderson also wrote one of the better ‘changewar’ series, The Time Patrol. 2024-01-25
changewar n. 1985 D. D’Ammassa Andre Norton in Lan’s Lantern (#16) Mar. 29/1 ‘Long Live Lord Kor’ is a changewar story, with the protagonist battling efforts to change the past of his world. 2024-01-25
changewar n. 2018 J. Gunn Time & Time Again in Analog Science Fiction & Fact Mar.–Apr. 5/2 A. E. van Vogt’s 1942 Astounding novella ‘Recruiting Station’…was combined with two other stories in the 1950 Masters of Time, perhaps the first of the ChangeWar concept that imagines groups competing for control of the future by changing the past. 2024-01-25
changewar n. 1958 F. Leiber Try & Change the Past in Astounding Science Fiction Mar. 94/1 In the Change War we’re trying to alter the past—and it’s tricky, brutal work, believe me—at points all over the cosmos, anywhere and anywhen, so that history will be warped to make our side defeat the Spiders. 2024-01-25
changewar n. 1958 F. Leiber The Big Time in Galaxy Mar. 8/1 This war is the Change War, a war of time travelers…. Our Soldiers fight by going back to change the past, or even ahead to change the future, in ways to help our side win the final victory a billion or more years from now. 2024-01-25
tractor ray n. 1931 E. E. Smith Spacehounds of IPC in Amazing Stories July 306/1 I don’t see how they do it. They must have a tractor ray. 2024-01-19
atomic engine n. 1956 C. Fontenay Atom Drive in Worlds of If 60/2 The atomic engine produces electrical energy, which accelerates reaction mass. 2024-01-12
atomic engine n. 1935 J. W. Skidmore Epos of Posi & Nega in Amazing Stories 124/2 The crazy scientist is about to start his cursed atomic engine! 2024-01-12
atomic engine n. 1927 A. J. Burks Invading Horde in Weird Tales Nov. 590/1 The motive power is supplied by a small, compact, atomic engine. 2024-01-12
Vulcanite n. 1945 ‘R. Rocklynne’ Bubble Dwellers in Planet Stories Fall 83/1 I felt a voiceless compassion for the Vulcanites. They stood like beasts, with dull eyes and stupid faces, arms hanging like strings at their sides. Their loin cloths, the only clothing on their great bodies, flapped in the warm, fitful winds that blew on this Sunless side of Vulcan. 2024-01-11
Vulcanite n. 1941 Le Zombie (#43) Oct. 9 (advt.) [advertisement for the Michigan Get-Acquainted Conference] If you live in the Solar System (Vulcanites excluded) you are welcome! If you live within half a parsec of the State of Michigan, you will be expected! 2024-01-11
Vulcanite n. 1940 C. Selwyn Exiles of Three Red Moons in Planet Stories Summer 61/1 [I]mmuned on a world that spun ceaselessly from hot to cold, his native Vulcan, nothing fazed the mighty Lothar. [...] Rusty wondered how they knew the right direction. Dizzy with the heat, he did not realize he had even asked the question. ‘Depend on Lothar,’ said Spike, wiping a streaming brow. ‘Vulcanites can find their way out of hell.’ 2024-01-11
Vulcanite n. [1966 B. Justman Memo 6 May in S. E. Whitfield & G. Roddenberry Making of ‘Star Trek’ iii. i. 276 Any Vulcanite or science-fiction aficionado would know that the fifth name in column one (Spouk) is pronounced ‘Spook’. While the sixth name in column three (Spouk) is pronounced ‘Spowk’.] 2024-01-11
Vulcanite n. 1932 ‘L. F. Stone’ Hell Planet in Wonder Stories June ii. 18/1 What interested the Tellurians the most was the fact that the arrows and a few spears that appeared now and then were tipped with white metal cosmicite! The metal seemed in common use among the Vulcanites, yet at the same time was held in veneration. 2024-01-11
Terrestrial n. 2 1960 B. W. Aldiss X for Exploitation in New Worlds (#92) Mar. 25 Take a note. Translate it into terrestrial, get it up into Transmissions as soon as possible, see it is circulated to all native contractors concerned. 2024-01-09
Terrestrial n. 2 1957 J. Harmon Break a Leg in Galaxy Science Fiction Nov. 129/1 Charlie’s words were being translated into the native language, of course, but Bronoski’s collars and mine switched them back into Terrestrial. 2024-01-09
Terrestrial n. 2 [1938 M. W. Wellman Dream-Dust from Mars in Thrilling Wonder Stories i. 18/1 ‘You feel that you recognize my name,’ rose the stilted purr of the Martian’s voice, shaped into terrestrial words by an artificial larynx set in the air passage among the petals of Xaoi’s face.] 2024-01-09
Terrestrial n. 2 [1931 C. Cloukey In the Spacesphere in Wonder Stories June 32/1 Even when his name was phonetically transliterated into Terrestrial spelling, he kept the same system.] 2024-01-09
Terrestrial n. 2 1948 F. Brown Knock in Thrilling Wonder Stories Dec. 139/1 The rest of his life, or as the Zan had quaintly expressed it, for-ev-er…. The Zan had learned to speak Terrestrial English in a matter of hours but they persisted in separating syllables. 2024-01-09
Terrestrial n. 2 1944 ‘S. Fleming’ Doorway to Kal-Jmar in Planet Stories Winter 24/1 ‘Kalis methra,’ he began haltingly, ‘seltin guna getal.’ ‘Yes, there is air here,’ said the Martian leader, startlingly. ‘Not enough for your use, however, so do not open your helmets.’ Syme swore amazedly. ‘I thought you said they didn’t speak Terrestrial,’ Tate said. Syme ignored him. ‘We had our reasons for not doing so,’ the Martian said. 2024-01-09
Terrestrial n. 2 1950 P. Anderson Helping Hand in Astounding Science Fiction May 15/1 Mentally, for a moment of wry amusement, Skorrogan rendered a few lines into Terrestrial [...] It didn’t work. It wasn’t only that the metallic rhythm and hard barking syllables were lost, the intricate rhyme and alliteration, though that was part of it—but it just didn’t make sense in Terrestrial. The concepts were lacking. How could you render, well, such a word as vorkansraavin as faring and hope to get more than a mutilated fragment of meaning? Psychologies were simply too different. 2024-01-09
Terrestrial n. 2 1963 K. Laumer Mightiest Qorn in Worlds of If July 69/2 ‘You should have known better than to tackle that fierce-looking creature,’ Zubb said, pointing his beak at Magnan. ‘How does it happen that you speak Terrestrial?’ Retief asked. ‘Oh, one picks up all sorts of dialects.’ ‘It’s quite charming, really,’ Magnan said. ‘Such a quaint, archaic accent.’ 2024-01-09
Terrestrial n. 2 1959 P. Anderson Message in Secret in Fantastic Dec. 8/1 ‘I zuppose it was de, you zay, contrazt.’ He spoke Terrestrial Anglic with a thick accent. 2024-01-09
Betelgeusean n. 2 1959 P. Anderson Message in Secret in Fantastic Dec. 32/1 Oleg himself reads only Altaian and the principal Betelgeusean language. 2024-01-04
food pill n. 1950 W. Sheldon Country Beyond the Curve in Amazing Stories Oct. 87/2 Someone gave me a food pill and I took it automatically. 2024-01-03
food pill n. 1885 J. B. Hopkins A Strange Trip in Tinsley’s Magazine Dec. 510 In Moonland the only food is pills. Every day the Official Feeders visit every house and every member of the household is put on the weighing machine. If the person is above the standard weight, he or she is left without foot until reduced to the lawful standard. If the person is below the standard weight, he or she is stuffed with pills…. The exceptions…are the President, the members of the Council, and the officials. They may be fat or thin; they do not swallow the food pills they prescribe for the people, but eat and drink what they like. 2024-01-03
food pill n. 1938 ‘R. Rocklynne’ Men & the Mirror in Astounding Science-Fiction July 86/1 They ate in the strange manner necessitated by spacesuits. By buttons in a niche outside their suits they manipulated levers which reached into a complicated mechanism, pulling out food pills—tasteless things—and water, which they sucked through a tube. 2024-01-03
food pill n. 1888 Scientific American 16 June 368/3 Perhaps the time will come when the art of extracting and condensing the active principle or essence of comestibles will be so advanced that one may be able to obtain in a small pellet as much refreshment and nourishment as he now obtains in a whole meal…. A person will carry a few food pills in his pocket, and when he grows hungry he will take one and swallow his whole meal at once. Perhaps. 2024-01-03
food pill n. 1965 R. Smith Tripsych in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Mar. 67/1 Artificial food pills are what I’ve eaten all my life. They better not try to put no synthetic substitutes on the market now. I won’t have it. 2024-01-03
food pill n. 1995 F. Savage Cyberfate in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Sept. 126 My stomach is literally concave. I’m losing flesh off my bones. I need a food pill. 2024-01-03
food pill n. [1919 L. F. Baum Magic of Oz xxi. 237 It so happened that Professor Wogglebug…carelessly invented a Square-Meal Tablet, which was no bigger than your little finger-nail but contained, in condensed form, the equal of a bowl of soup, a portion of fried fish, a roast, a salad and a dessert, all of which gave the same nourishment as a square meal.] 2024-01-03
food pill n. 2015 C. Thompson Watch This Space 188 I thought we’d be living on food pills like you see in the movies, but if you tell rRego [sc. a robot] what you want to eat, he can produce it in a few minutes. 2024-01-03
food pill n. 1896 G. Turner The Second Edition in Black Cat June 37 First, one fellow came in with an electric fly-killer, and then another with a bicycle sidewalk cleaner—sort of a snowsweeper—and another had a patent compressed food pill, and there were several hundred men with communications to the editor. 2024-01-03
food pill n. 1929 W. G. West The Last Man in Amazing Stories Feb. 1034/1 At noon he swallowed some food pills and, tired by his morning’s exercise, went to sleep under a massive oak tree. 2024-01-03
food pill n. 1900 Newport Daily News 8 Dec. 8/5 Not until the time comes when people gather around the festal board and instead of the gross consumption of cooked viands swallow a food pill or a lozenge will the limits of possible reform have been reached. 2024-01-03
food pill n. 1981 W. Gibson Gernsback Continuum in T. Carr Universe 11 89 ‘John…we’ve forgotten to take our food pills.’ She clicked two bright wafers from a thing on her belt and passed one to him. 2024-01-03
time track n. 1931 E. Hamilton Ten Million Years Ahead in Weird Tales Apr.–May 304/2 We know that matter moves along this time-dimension from the past toward the future at an unchangeable speed, like a locomotive following its track. We can not speed up our movement on that track, or reverse it, or stop or even slow it, but move forward always at the same rate. But suppose that this time-track we follow doubled back upon itself so that a point really far ahead of us on it would be close beside us in reality, just as a railway track or road sometimes doubles back upon itself so that a point which you will not reach on it for hours is right beside you? Then we could short-cut across to that point and reach a time actually millions of years ahead in the future! 2023-12-28
time track n. 2011 G. Mann Paradox Lost (Doctor Who) 16 The old girl seems to want to take us somewhere in a bit of a hurry and she’s jumping a few time tracks in order to do it. Just like a needle skipping in the grooves of an old record. 2023-12-28
time track n. 1992 B. Searles On Books in Asimov’s Science Fiction Feb. 169/2 The matter transmitters lead to alternate time tracks, opening up even more territory for our lost adventurers to keep track of (as it were). 2023-12-28
xenoanthropologist n. 1981 S. Sucharitkul Vampire of Mallworld in Amazing Stories May 29 They were…screwing the creditfull [sic] thumbs of some fairly heavyweight clients…the Selespridon, a xeno-anthropologist, for instance, being one of the regulars. [ellipsis in orig.] 2023-12-06
xenoanthropologist n. 2014 F. J. Bergmann 100 Reasons to Have Sex with an Alien in Nebula Awards Showcase (2017) 244 100 reasons to have sex with an alien…. 67. I told myself it was my duty as a xenoanthropologist. 2023-12-06
xenoanthropologist n. 2004 D. Smith Jigsaw in J. E. Czerneda Odyssey 9 Manfred Mubuto, balding, dark and round, was their xeno-anthropologist. Liz Branson, with features as sharp as her sarcasm, was their linguist. Four were marines. 2023-12-06
xenoanthropologist n. 1987 F. Pohl Adeste Fidelis in Omni Dec. 68 He was neither a xenoanthropologist nor a xenobiologist, nor did he have any of the special skills that made the lives of the survivors fairly tolerable. 2023-12-06
xenoanthropology n. 1960 ‘L. del Rey’ Introduction in Fantastic Universe Omnibus ix Between these two forms…lies the area of science fantasy. The boundaries are lost in the distance, but I can demarcate them roughly: North lies Physics; east, Elfland; south, Xenanthropology; west, Asgard. 2023-12-06
science fantasy n. 4 1960 ‘L. del Rey’ Introduction in Fantastic Universe Omnibus ix A functional definition…is perhaps a bit simpler. Science fantasy provides the elements which the general reader seeks when he turns to an occasional volume of science fiction, without the grotesque technical jargon which is all too often added needlessly. 2023-12-06
xenoanthropology n. 2015 D. A. Goodman Autobiography of James T. Kirk Along with all the usual subjects of literature, history, physical sciences, there was a whole slew of other disciplines not covered in the usual college education: xenobiology, xenoanthropology, galactic law and institutions, planetary ecologies, interplanetary economics. 2023-12-06
xenoanthropology n. 1951 L. Sprague de Camp Getaway on Krishna in 10 Story Fantasy Spring 79/2 I’m studying for a degree in xenanthropology, and for my thesis I took Krishnan religious customs. 2023-12-06
vape v. 2015 J. Wagner Judge Dredd: Dark Justice (unpaged) Oh sweet grud! The ship! They’ve vaped the ship! 2023-12-02
vape v. 1976 B. Starr Treasure of Wonderwhat (1977) 193 He was a money slave to the captain of the second ZuJu ship that we vaped. 2023-12-02
trekkie n. 1968 A Mid-Spring’s Night’s Dream in Plak-Tow (#8) 30 June in fanlore.org I’d wanted to make it clear I wasn’t just a trekkie in love with Spock. [Ibid.] His great, warm brown eyes are guaranteed to melt any trekkie into a helpless pool of protoplasm. 2023-11-27
trekker n. 1967 TV Guide 22 Feb. a-72/1 (letter) (heading) Trekker [/] This is an appeal to the public to stand behind the only intellectually stimulating program NBC has come up with in years. Star Trek at least rises above the typical ‘father is a slob, mother is a scatterbrain, and the children triumph’ programs that fill the prime time every night. 2023-11-21
Singularity n. 2011 New Yorker 4 Apr. 70/2 Tic-tac-toe fell, and then checkers, and chess went down when Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov, and now the TV trivia quiz show ‘Jeopardy!’ has fallen to a computer system named Watson. On the surface, at least, what Raymond Kurzweil, in accents both ominous and worshipful, calls ‘the Singularity’—the ‘Matrix’ moment when artificial intelligence becomes as strong as, if not stronger than, human kind—gets closer all the time. 2023-11-18
gravity well n. 1952 R. A. Heinlein Rolling Stones v. 70 In interplanetary trade cost is always a matter of where a thing is gravity-wise—not how far away. Earth is a lovely planet but all her products lie at the bottom of a very deep ‘gravity well’, deeper than that of Venus, enormously deeper than Luna’s. [Ibid. vi. 80] Blasting off from Luna is not the terrifying and oppressive experience that a lift from Earth is. The Moon’s field is so weak, her gravity well so shallow, that a boost of one-g would suffice. 2023-11-16
nanotechnological adj. 1986 M. Richards Building a New World, Atom by Atom in Washington Post 21 Dec. d3/2 [K. Eric] Drexler is the founder of the Nanotechnology Study Group at MIT—the first attempt to organize the various strains of nanotechnological thinking into a unified, scholarly discipline. 2023-11-14
grok v. [1949 ‘W. Tenn’ Venus & the Seven Sexes in The Seven Sexes (1963) 177 The humans who make these stereos neglect almost completely the senses of taste, brotch, pressure, and griggo. [Ibid. 183] ‘The only other sex-chief whose whereabouts I griggo,’ the tree-dweller observed, ‘is the new nzred nzredd.’ [Ibid. 188] First, it was necessary for me to teach English to the first Plookh thespians so that they could follow Shlestertrap’s direction. Not very difficult, this: it simply required a short period of concentrated griggoing. [Ibid. 196] The nzred nzredd and twelve specially trained helpers had been traveling everywhere, griggoing English to all Plookhh they met and ordering them to go forth and griggo likewise.] 2023-11-11
chronoscope n. 2003 J. Williamson Man from Somewhere in Asimov’s Science Fiction Oct.–Nov. 72 He’d used a device he called a chronoscope to search the history of Earth. Its sub-quantum forces let him trace the lines of time and see past events. 2023-11-11
pseudo-scientific adj. 1903 N.Y. Times 4 Apr. 232/2 Mr. Wells has a new novel ready…. It is to be hoped that it will be something like the other books that have gained Mr. Wells such a high place as writer of pseudo-scientific novels. 2023-11-08
pseudo-scientific adj. 1880 J. B. Matthews Theatres of Paris x. 178 M. Jules Verne had been writing pseudo-scientific tales of adventure for a decade. 2023-11-08
parking orbit n. 1953 D. Knight Definition in Startling Stories Feb. 120/1 The local patrol…warned him not to land. But instead of shunting into a parking orbit and waiting for instructions, as he was told, Jackson headed for open space under full drive. 2023-11-07
fillo n. 1962 Silmé (#2) Aug. 12/2 Get a friend to photo any work you think might be suitable for a cover of F&SF (remember that they do not use interior illos, except for a rare fillo, now and then). 2023-11-07
fillo n. 1993 T. Harvia Letter in Rune (#84) Jan. 42/1 To my dismay, I found only two interior fillos. Quickly coloring them in, I searched for other chromatic outlets. 2023-11-07
fillo n. 1975 M. Glicksohn Zinephobic Eye in Scientifriction (#3) Oct. 22 It’s offset, with two column layout, justified text, a few relatively minor fillos and layout whose main fault is a tendency to crowd the bottom of the page. 2023-11-07
grok v. 1974 ‘R. M. Weems’ Found in Space in Amazing Science Fiction Apr. 95/2 He fell to his knees and cried with the agony of it all. He grokked wrongness. 2023-11-05
jumpspace n. 1969 P. Anthony Macroscope (1972) 461 No other drone-moon returnees were discovered. Evidently a number had been dispatched, but were either lost in the uncharted configurations of jumpspace or had arrived but not been located in or near the Milky Way. 2023-11-05
jumpspace n. 2014 B. R. Torgersen Chaplain’s War (2015) 412 We have come out of jumpspace into the middle of a battle! 2023-11-05
Ganymedian n. 1959 P. K. Dick War Game in Galaxy Science Fiction Dec. 92/2 Any group of people as inventive as the Ganymedeans could be expected to show creativity in whatever field they entered. 2023-11-03
Ganymedian n. 1928 F. J. Breuckel Moon Men in Amazing Stories Nov. 731/2 Navara gave a little cry of joy and flung herself into the arms of the Ganymedean. [Ibid. 732/2] He looked at the Ganymedean inquisitively. 2023-11-03
Ganymedian adj. 1995 P. Di Filippo Take Me to the Pilot in Asimov’s Science Fiction Aug. 52 All living things coexist harmoniously side by side in the oververse. Beetles, cacti, whales, Ganymedean slime worms…. 2023-11-03
Ganymedian adj. 1928 F. J. Breuckel Moon Men in Amazing Stories Nov. 726/1 The morning after the long, chilly, dark Ganymedean night, we again resumed the march. [Ibid. 727/1] ‘Yes, it is,’ I agreed, thinking not of Ganymedean nomenclature, but of terrestrial. 2023-11-03
pseudo-scientific adj. 1921 A. Leeds Midsummer Photoplay & Fiction Market in Writer’s Digest Aug. 13/2 As to short stories, it may be said generally that, with the exception of love or sex stories, burlesque, ghost stories, pseudo-scientific stories, or stories that have conventional or machine-made plots, any type of tale that has a genuine human note will be welcome. 2023-11-02
super-scientist n. 1975 J. Varley Black Hole Passes in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction June 27/1 ‘What would Maryjane Peters, superscientist, have done?’ He could hear the pleased note in her voice, though she tried not to show it. 2023-11-02
shuttle n. 1930 ‘J. Vanny’ Liners of Space in Air Wonder Stories Feb. 748/1 ‘To the shuttle!’ yelled Joslin. And indeed this seemed the only avenue to escape left open. Quickly the trap door to shuttle number one was banged open. The eight quickly entered and the door was once more bolted shut. A minute later they were flung free from the doomed vessel. Quickly the shuttle was reversed and turned away from the Barta. The last they saw of that wonderful ship, she was headed directly toward the blinding glare of the sun…. In due time the shuttle was picked up by a Venusian liner bound for the Earth. 2023-11-01
shuttlecraft n. 1954 M. Shaara Sling & the Stone in Imagination Science Fiction Mar. 132/2 In one of the small, light shuttle craft they went from the station to the main rocket. 2023-11-01
shuttlecraft n. 1953 D. F. Galouye Fist of Shiva in Imagination Science Fiction May 25/1 Within a month I don’t want a single shuttle craft hopping between here and the Space Station. 2023-11-01
shuttlecraft n. 1967 Galileo Seven (Star Trek episode) (transcription) Captain to shuttlecraft Galileo. Stand by, Mr. Spock. [Ibid.] Out there somewhere, a twenty-four foot shuttlecraft, off course, out of control. Finding a needle in a haystack would be child’s play. 2023-11-01
visiscreen n. 1932 E. K. Sloat Loot of the Void in Astounding Stories 8/2 Penrun sprang to the small visi[-]screen beside the board and snapped on the current. Swiftly he revolved the periscope aerial. There appeared on the screen the hull of a long, rakish, cigar-shaped craft. 2023-10-31
gravity screen n. 1929 S. P. Meek Red Peril in Amazing Stories Sept. 497/1 If a gravity screen were perfected, it would shut off all gravity above it to an infinite distance. 2023-10-31
Venerian adj. 1929 C. W. Harris & M. J. Breuer A Baby on Neptune in Amazing Stories Dec. 796/1 He read minute reports of the Venerian and Neptunian trips. 2023-10-31
science fantasy n. 1 1933 M. Weisinger Selling the Pseudo-Scientific Story in Writer’s Digest Apr. 51 It is only during the past few years that science fiction has captured public interest to any noticeable degree. There are no less than six magazines now using the pseudo-scientific story either exclusively or as a regular part of their contents. And there is a growing number of books, plays, and films of the science-fantasy type. 2023-10-31
space platform n. 1952 R. S. Shaver Sun-Smiths in Other Worlds Aug. 67/1 June was breathless in anticipation, especially after the marvelous mechanisms and perfect appointments she had seen in the space platform. 2023-10-31
space platform n. 1955 J. E. Gunn Cave of Night in Galaxy Feb. 50/2 We have demonstrated that space flight is possible, that a space platform is feasable. 2023-10-31
everywhen adv. 1955 D. F. Galouye Day the Sun Died in Imagination Science Fiction 67/2 The square was filling with people again—from everywhere, everywhen…men from the distant future on their weightless sleds, some drifting without sleds; Neanderthal hordes; swarthy savages; troops armed with unfamiliar weapons; Grecian and Roman warriors; Egyptian dancing girls—all terrified, all fleeing from one another. [ellipsis in orig.] 2023-10-31