| Word | Quotation | Date Added |
| wallscreen n. | 1959 Sneak Preview in Amazing Stories Nov. 128/2 Hix glanced at the dark and crackling wallscreen…. Sigmond was staring at the screen. The wall had brightened and now the crackling faded. Suddenly a face appeared before them. | 2022-05-20 |
| wallscreen n. | 1992 After All in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Jan. 22 For a while he made weekly calls to his daughters, him sitting in his favorite chair while watching them on the wallscreen. | 2022-05-20 |
| wallscreen n. | 2006 Golden Record in Asimov’s Science Fiction Dec. 91 He turned to the wallscreen of his office, where the museum’s legal AI supervised the conversation. ‘Isn’t that right?’ | 2022-05-20 |
| wallscreen n. | 2015 Long Wait in Asimov’s Science Fiction Jan. 88 I looked up. The wallscreen was logoned to a newsnet, and the first thing I saw was something that looked like a fuzzy little white blob against a black background. | 2022-05-20 |
| wallscreen n. | 1931 Spacehounds of IPC in Amazing Stories Aug. 427/2 All three prisoners stared at the wall-screen, upon which was pictured a huge football of scarred grey steel. | 2022-05-20 |
| wallscreen n. | 1962 Retief of the Red-Tape Mountain in Worlds of If May 7/2 He turned to the wall-screen and pressed a button. A system triagram appeared: eight luminous green dots arranged around a larger disk. | 2022-05-20 |
| wallscreen n. | 1941 Star of Dreams in Comet Mar. 19/1 Alone in his comfortable inner office, he had relaxed and snapped on the news-repeater. The wall screen lit with the image of a doll-faced platinum blond. | 2022-05-20 |
| wallscreen n. | 1950 Gift of Darkness in Super Science Stories Apr. 76/1 The communi-phones were right here, of course, and the wall screen buttons right there. | 2022-05-20 |
| wallscreen n. | 1978 Sight of Proteus in Amazing Stories May 6/1 ‘Bey? Put me up on visual, will you,’ said the wall screen. Wolf touched his wrist again adn the cheeful, ruddy face of John Larsen appeared on the wall holo. | 2022-05-20 |
| faster-than-light adj. | 1941 Super Salesman of Space in Planet Comics Jan. 28/2 Charlie stepped up the speed of his faster-than-light ship and headed in the direction of the ringed planet. | 2022-05-20 |
| sol n. 2 | 2007 Envoy Extraordinary in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Sept. 47 The Bursar found that he owed nineteen sols and a demilune because a line-item in his budget had been disallowed. | 2022-05-18 |
| sol n. 2 | 1942 Brimstone Bill in Astounding Science-Fiction July 37/1 ‘Fifty-four thousand, three hundred and eight sols,’ said the paymaster, ‘including the merchandise items.’ ‘Fair enough. Take that over, too, into the special account.’ | 2022-05-18 |
| sol n. 2 | 1939 Mill of the Gods in Astounding Science-Fiction Jan. 132/2 Six holes, one hundred and eight miles deep, each—through solid meteoric iron—at twelve and a half sols a lineal foot! What a survey! And how do you propose to get my money back? | 2022-05-18 |
| sol n. 2 | 1998 On Books in Asimov’s Science Fiction July 137/2 Schwatzendale, the Engineer, is a card shark and all-around gambler, who preys on anyone willing to wager a few sols with him. | 2022-05-18 |
| sol n. 2 | 1958 Tag, You’re It! in Imaginative Tales Mar. 111/2 I said I would pay you well for your services. Here. Take fifty sols in advance. | 2022-05-18 |
| solar n. | 1959 Orange in Worlds of If Nov. 116/2 It is always an education to find out just how much a man values his existance [sic]. ‘Five thousand solars— payable when my enemy has been eliminated.’ I swallowed my drink and headed toward the door. He caught my arm as I passed. ‘Ruby! For God’s sake!’ ‘What?’ ‘How much do you want?’ ‘Ten thousand solars now. Ten more when the job is finished.’ | 2022-05-18 |
| solar n. | 1966 Message in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact July 10/2 By centavo, by peso, solar by solar, Manuel had earned the money, as bouncer in the saloons of Juarez—where a glib tongue often made cruder measures unnecessary—and at other odd jobs. He had saved the solars by ruthlessly denying himself all but basic necessities. | 2022-05-18 |
| solar n. | 1975 Imperial Earth (1978) xxvii. 197 Ten thousand solars was far more than anyone would need for the purchase of a few Terran luxuries; and several times more than the Makenzies held in their own, perfectly legal accounts. Such an amount of money was more than a cause of envy; it was disturbing, especially if it was intended for some clandestine use. | 2022-05-18 |
| solar n. | 1985 Chapterhouse: Dune 157 Foldspace was a critical economic barrier: How valuable a cargo compared to size and mass? You could spend many Solars moving massive stuff. | 2022-05-18 |
| solar n. | 2006 Biding Time in Slipstreams 34 ‘How much did it come to?’ He spoke to the computer again, and pointed at the displayed figure. ‘Total, nine million solars.’ I frowned. ‘NewYou charges 7.5 million for their basic service. There can’t have been enough cash left over after she transferred to be worth killing her for, unless...’ | 2022-05-18 |
| solar n. | 2013 I Come From Dark Universe in Clockwork Phoenix 4 Here’s the deal. We give you a room. If you want to help out with cooking, food’s free, otherwise there’s a cost of 40 solars a cycle. You get 50% of profits from every trick. Costumes, specialty items, and supplies come out of your pay, but we only charge you cost. The House pays your license, and splits the cost of meddie treatments with you. Clients can give you gifts, but if you’re extorting or skimming, you're fired first time it happens. | 2022-05-18 |
| solar n. | 1944 Nomad in Astounding Science Fiction Dec. i. 11/1 [W]ould you care to do this the easy way? After all, Maynard, we are going to have the answer anyway. For your own sake, why not give it without pain. That offer of fifty thousand solars will be withdrawn upon the instant that the switch is closed. | 2022-05-18 |
| solar n. | 1942 He Was Poor... But He Was Honest in Censored (#3) Mar. 7/2 [H]e had to remove twenty feet of that super dense matter to get at the lode of syrinamide, which would bring him fifteen solars a gram at the market at New Nuyork. | 2022-05-18 |
| solar n. | 1952 Planet Named Joe in Planet Stories Nov. 57/2 The Officer’s Club was a plasteel hut with window shields that protected it from the heat of the sun. It didn’t look too comfortable but I really wanted that drink. I reached into my tunic and slipped the native thirty solars. He stared at the credits curiously and then shrugged his shoulders. ‘Oh well, you’re new here. We’ll let it go.’ | 2022-05-18 |
| solar n. | 1955 Long Way Home in Astounding Science Fiction July xviii. 131/1 ‘I’m offering a reward for the information. A hundred solars.’ Their eyes widened. Langley saw avarice on some of the faces, and flipped his cloak back in a casual way to reveal his gun. Its possession was a serious offense, but nobody seemed inclined to cry out for the police. | 2022-05-18 |
| science fiction n. 1 | 1897 Rip Van Winkle Episode in Pharmaceutical Era (vol. 17, no. 20) 20 May 592/1 My last remembrance had been of reading Mr. Lloyd’s Etidorhpa…. The complete arrest of bodily function and tissue waste which the central figure of that remarkable science-fiction achieved at the point where gravitation ceases, somewhere between here and China, impressed me deeply. | 2022-05-17 |
| science fiction n. 1 | 1998 Tube Corn in Interzone (#133) July 35/3 I think that what I’ve learned from the ratings that other science fictions have got is it does appear that there is an audience which will experiment with any new sf and will give it a try. | 2022-05-17 |
| science fiction n. 1 | 2004 Writing Utopia in Writing with Intent (2011) xii. 95 There are Huxley’s ritualistic group sex and bottle babies, Skinner’s boxes, and various minor science fictions—written by men, I hasten to add—in which women devour their mates or paralyse them and lay eggs on them, à la spiders. | 2022-05-17 |
| science fiction n. 1 | 2009 Books in Review in Science Fiction Studies (vol. 36 pt. 3) Nov. 538 There was not space, given the book’s parameters, to mention writer-director Kevin Willmott, an African American filmmaker producing serious, thought-provoking science fictions. | 2022-05-17 |
| science fiction n. 1 | [1932 Letter in Astounding Stories Apr. 136/1 Don’t change the size of the magazine. If you do, it will be just like the other Science Fictions, and we will be walking off with the wrong book.] | 2022-05-17 |
| science fiction n. 1 | 1964 Science Fiction Special 9 (1974) 74 (editorial introduction to ‘Unit’, by J. T. McIntosh) This brilliant Scotsman first began writing for American publication in 1950, and has since had a sizable number of first-rate science fictions in our magazines. | 2022-05-17 |
| science fiction n. 1 | 1954 This ‘Them!’ Is Really It! in Picturegoer 28 Aug. 10/2 From the start—a little girl found wandering, shocked and staring, in the desert after her parents have been carried off to become an ant’s breakfast—Them! has it over other science fictions I have seen. Not just technically. | 2022-05-17 |
| science fiction n. 1 | 1971 in Humanist Sept.–Oct. 24/1 In literature, for instance, the works that are most political in this sense are those science fictions (notably neglected even by the litterateurs who call themselves ‘radical’) in which readers may inspect a diversity of fully fleshed visions of alternative life. | 2022-05-17 |
| science fiction n. 1 | 1951 Galaxy’s 5 Star Shelf in Galaxy Magazine Nov. 97/1 The eleventh of Eric Temple Bell’s pseudonymous science fictions to get into book form during the last quarter-century, this deals with the science and mystery of evolution. | 2022-05-17 |
| proto-science fiction n. | 2007 From the Days of Future Past in View from the Cheap Seats (2016) 329 H.G. Wells…was, with Jules Verne, the person who gave us the scientific romance—the forerunner of that branch of literature we now know as science fiction. His short stories, and his proto-science fiction novels, have lasted and are still read today, while many of the mainstream novels he considered more important and significant are gone and, for the most part, forgotten, perhaps because the novels were very much of their time, and swallowed by the change in time, while some of the science fiction and fantasy novels and tales are, for all their late Victorian or Edwardian settings, quite timeless. | 2022-05-07 |
| proto-science fiction n. | 1974 Science Fiction & the Mainstream: Part 2: The Great Tradition of Proto Science Fiction in Foundation (vol. 5) Jan. 9 Briefly, the thesis is that modern science fiction continues a tradition of the artistic imagination which is very ancient…. I give fifteen important examples of ‘proto science fiction’. | 2022-05-07 |
| rimworld n. | 1955 Star Walk in New Worlds Science Fiction (#33) Mar. 40 If they hadn’t insisted on a certain surplus of fuel and credits being available at all times, C-ships would have become marooned on out-of-the-way colonies and their service would have collapsed. Out here on the impoverished Rim worlds, they were hated like poison. But it wasn’t like that in the Centre. | 2022-05-06 |
| regeneration tank n. | 1957 Defence Mechanism in New Worlds Science Fiction (#65) Nov. 74 I placed the dead limbs into my regeneration tanks and revived the cells and the tissue. | 2022-05-06 |
| regeneration tank n. | 1962 Mindfield! in Amazing Stories Mar. 28/2 They came out into a laboratory cut deep in the rock…. This was the room where Ren kept he stolen regeneration tank. | 2022-05-06 |
| energy gun n. | 1934 Land of Twilight in Amazing Stories Dec. xiii. 123/2 When a Verean got momentarily free of his attacker, the little energy-guns did their work…. At last the slaughter was over. | 2022-05-06 |
| energy gun n. | 1998 Savoir in Asimov’s Science Fiction Aug. 79 Mom and I were hiding in the basement, knowing that it was just a matter of days or hours until those awful energy guns would be pointed at us. | 2022-05-06 |
| energy gun n. | 1939 Black Empress in Amazing Stories Jan. vi. 109/1 We’re going to blast the remaining few feet of tunnel and get inside—It’s a cinch to catch her alone. Even if we don’t that energy gun will take care of everything. | 2022-05-06 |
| energy gun n. | 1973 The Asutra in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction June 28/1 He carries an energy gun, which might be instrumental in capturing the ship. | 2022-05-06 |
| gram v. | 1957 World of Women in Fantastic Feb. 54/2 I grammed SpaceCom and let them know the job was done, and then settled back to wait for a relief ship to pick me up. | 2022-05-05 |
| gram v. | 1969 Genemaster in Worlds of If Nov. 71/1 President Zarkos’s launch was waiting there for us. I had ’grammed ahead the date of our arrival. | 2022-05-05 |
| gram v. | 1976 Recompense in Galileo Dec. 23/2 Get that nonsense out of your head! I won’t stand for it. We’re only a few hours out of Stilhza. I’ve just ’grammed the Aamidst to expect you and I am not, repeat not, going to let you make a liar out of me! | 2022-05-05 |
| gram v. | 1950 Frownzy Florgels in Other Worlds Science Stories Oct. 33/2 ‘We’ll all focus our thoughts through the Book of Florgels.’ And he held the book out for them to focus on. He voyed his plan; they would all focus on the book the thought of their group, just as it was; he would gram the thought, two-way, to the most distant galaxy they knew of and attune it to a single mind there, if there turned out to be one. | 2022-05-05 |
| gram v. | 1940 Machine Brain in Thrilling Wonder Stories July 35/2 That‘s the most horrible part of it. The Manufactory grammed us that the robots took along others, and lots of raw material, as well as their own broadcasting station... | 2022-05-05 |
| gram v. | 1957 I’m in Marsport Without Hilda in Venture Science Fiction Nov. 67/2 I got a spacegram from Hilda saying she would stay on Earth with her mother and wouldn’t meet me this one time. I ’grammed back my loving regrets and my feverish anxiety concerning her mother; and when I landed, there I was— I was in Marsport without Hilda! | 2022-05-05 |
| spacegram v. | 1931 Adventure on Eros in Wonder Stories Sept. 549/1 ‘Don’t you see,’ said Professor D Four-Ten. ‘A simple problem in physics!’ For a moment I thought he was crazy. My own brain, yet revolving inwardly, could not so readily accept this calmness. Fears swept me, regrets, and the love of life. Surely this calm old fool was crazy. But his voice droned on and on. ‘A simple problem in physics. The cloud of meteorites charged the great lava-basalt sphere, which is Eros, to its very full. The Valondine, landing on Eros for refueling, became charged. Now it will attract us, sweep us to our death! The Martian Commander realized this and spacegrammed to earth. But it was too late, too late!’ | 2022-05-05 |
| spacegram v. | 1952 Things of Distinction in Startling Stories Mar. vi. 115/2 ‘Model PS-3472,’ exclaimed the old man. ‘But—’ ‘Our first order,’ interrupted Jerry, ‘if you agree to the changes, will be for ten billion hats. Terms, thirty days net on a non-returnable basis.’ ‘It’s a deal,’ J. E. McFinister said quickly, as if he were afraid Jerry might change his mind. ‘We’ll spacegram the specifications as soon as this call is finished,’ said Jerry. ‘How soon can we have a shipment?’ | 2022-05-05 |
| spacegram v. | 2004 Beast Master’s Circus x. 170 Storm rode the basin lands and the ranch had never been so meticulously run. Tani spent time spacegramming her aunt and uncle. Kady and Brion had contacts in strange places. And it could be surprising what unworldly scientists sometimes learned. | 2022-05-05 |
| spacegram n. | 1941 in Thrilling Wonder Stories Feb. 125 (editorial response) Pardon my velocity, rocketeers, but I’ll have to be reaching for the next spacegram. Well, dip me twice into the Red Spot of Jupiter if it isn’t another fan magazine announcement. If this ink-slinging fever keeps up, the three non-editing fans will join the Army and then you’ll all be editors. | 2022-05-05 |
| spacegram n. | 1944 Off the Beam in Astounding Science Fiction Feb. 7/1
‘Reading my mail?’ asked Channing cheerfully. The average spacegram was about as secret as a postcard, so Channing didn’t mind. He turned the page over and read: |
2022-05-05 |
| spacegram n. | 1950 Meteor in Astounding Science Fiction Sept. 111/2
‘Don’t worry, though. We don’t miss on these big ones.’ Twenty-one hours later, he was staring at another spacegram, remembering his comforting words of the day before. The heading was EMERGENCY; the spacegram was direct from the Stag Head detector station. |
2022-05-05 |
| spacegram n. | 1953 Bow Down to Them in Universe Science Fiction June 84/2 ‘Oh, by the way, a space gram came for you a while ago.’ He reached over to one corner of his desk and dug the gram out from under some prints. | 2022-05-05 |
| spacegram n. | 1957 I’m in Marsport Without Hilda in Venture Science Fiction Nov. 67/2 Well, this time, my mother-in-law, God bless her (for a change) got sick just two days before I reached Marsport; and the night before landing, I got a spacegram from Hilda saying she would stay on Earth with her mother and wouldn’t meet me this one time. | 2022-05-05 |
| spacegram n. | 1962 Scarlet Dawn in Science Fiction Adventures (#28) v. 31 Carson answered by filling in a spacegram form. The lady smiled sweetly as she read it and franked the right amount. Carson paid. The gram said: ‘Captain Mike Jose, GG HQ, Perivale. Having fine time. Saw you on tv. Keep the ball in the air.’ The lady prodded with a finger. ‘Glad to know you’re having a good time as soon as you land, son. But aren’t you going to sign it?’ ‘No. Costs extra. Anyway, they’ll know who it’s from.’ | 2022-05-05 |
| spacegram n. | 1967 Youth Addicts in If May iii. 72/2 He told me what had happened: he’d called home and gotten no answer. He’d gone to the house, and it hadn’t been lived in for months. His space gram was unopened, his letters still sealed. Neighbors told him she’d often come home staggering; they thought she’d been drinking. Once they’d found her sitting on the lawn, crying for her daddy and mommy. She’d thought she was back on Scrag... | 2022-05-05 |
| spacegram n. | 1972 Man’s Reach in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Nov. 77/1 More weeks passed and the spacegrams kept coming and the last one said it was the last one because music critic and correspondent Arthur was no longer employed and Jon Arthur did not give a damn. | 2022-05-05 |
| spacegram n. | 1984 Mercenary iii. 75 Then I received a cryptic message. It was a spacegram from Jupiter: Do you have it? It was signed ‘Q,’ with no return address or other identification. | 2022-05-05 |
| spacegram n. | 1989 Pursuit to Perihelion in Astro-Adventures: Tales of Scientifiction (#7) Apr. 37/1 Lawson Gage sat in the central office of Venus Development, Inc., and stared down at a sheet of yellow paper. The two-day-old Spacegram had been waiting for him on his return from a survey trip to the new radium mines, and now, reading its terse message for the third time, he realized he had but thirty minutes to make his decision. | 2022-05-05 |
| spacegram n. | 2003 Problem of Gourmet Planet in Analog Science Fiction & Fact Nov. 44/1 In the meantime, between feasts—every meal on Easole was a feast—he had the usual humdrum administrative tasks to take care of. He sat scowling at a spacegram he had just received. ‘Damn!’ he muttered, dropped it onto his desk, and then picked it up and read it again. | 2022-05-05 |
| spacegram n. | 1931 Adventure on Eros in Wonder Stories Sept. 547/2
In his hand he clutched a small square of blue paper which I instantly recognized as a spacegram. [...] I stared at it, swiftly perused it for some explanation to the horror. |
2022-05-05 |
| spacegram n. | 1935 Symphony of Death in Amazing Stories Dec. 92/1
‘Sweet shades of Luna!’ exclaimed Dale Scott, reporter extraordinary, as he finished decoding the last word of the tersely worded spacegram. ‘That guy would put a brass monkey to shame!’ Again he read the matter-of-fact sentences: |
2022-05-05 |
| multiverse n. 2 | 1979 Storming the Bijou, Mon Amour in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine June 53 This beam blazed in the darkness like a sun, a great white hole emptying a multiverse of backwards images into the visions of the Pittites. | 2022-05-02 |
| multiverse n. 1 | 1983 Knight of Shallows in Amazing Stories July 27 Probability mechanics is a phenomenon unfathomable to anyone wedded to the old physics. Consciousness as a basic force in the universe. Or rather, multiverse. You’re looking at logical spin-offs from the eventualities of your life. | 2022-05-02 |
| multiverse n. 1 | 1987 Milk of Knowledge in Aboriginal Science Fiction Sept.–Oct. 60/2 Our intrusion threatens you with all possible world-lines, which is where we dwell: in the multiverse, not in your single universe. You tune all other existences out, bar one. We can make the world jump tracks. We can juxtapose. | 2022-05-02 |
| life tube n. | 2003 Forest of Stars xcv. 318 Zhett saw a battered lifetube that had been ejected from an EDF cruiser, a single-man pod. Though its systems had been severely damaged, she detected one life sign aboard. The reflective hull, scorched and scarred, had begun leaking air. It wouldn’t last much longer. | 2022-04-28 |
| life tube n. | 1930 Liners of Space in Air Wonder Stories Feb. iii. 708/1 Driscoll gave a cry and pointed to the screen. There it was—number 12 life tube—lying a thousand miles astern. In a few minutes the Swan had drawn up alongside the tube. But as the two men from the Swan boarded the little craft, their eyes met that same scene of desolation that they had encountered upon her mother ship. A quick test showed she had oxygen—plenty of it. And yet, across the floor of the car were the bodies of Jackson and Manning. | 2022-04-28 |
| life tube n. | 1939 Space Terror in Spaceways (#6) 4 Following instructions to the letter the Morton family dropped the money-globe at the spot designated in the abduction note, in one of the Luna craters. Then came the grim sequel to the story. Notified the boy was safe in a Life-tube headed into Earth Sector 230 Quadrant 1 the Morton family hastened to the spot in a space-yacht named the Comet, followed by a squadron of ISP to insure [sic] a quick pick-up of the life-tube. But the tube was not found for fourteen heart-breaking hours. As the tube was without lights it was a miracle that it was found at all, but the child was dead. | 2022-04-28 |
| life tube n. | 1942 Breakdown in Astounding Science-Fiction Jan. 26/1 There was time for only a few brief words, but he began to feel an eager interest in these new companions. A curiously assorted group. Burly dock hands in gray. A few young cadets who had survived the destruction of the militechnic college. A dozen veterans who had escaped from the Outstation in a life tube, when it was blown up. Engineers, white-collar workers, servants, grays. But their one intense purpose had fused them all into a single unit. | 2022-04-28 |
| life tube n. | 1984 Lifeburst xvi. 188 The surprise attack demolished Cyan Gem’s laboratory, but she herself escaped. She was able to rescue the planetic male, Reynard Charbon. The only survivors, they managed to board a lifetube that had been preserved from the wrecked planetic craft. | 2022-04-28 |
| suit radio n. | 1954 Trespassers in Nebula Science Fiction (#11) Dec. 30 Through the suit radio Clicklaa’s voice was distorted as he shouted. | 2022-04-25 |
| suit phone n. | 1931 Sargasso of Space in Astounding Stories 397/1 As they returned up the dim corridor Kent managed to walk beside Marta Mallen, and, without being seen, he contrived to detach his suit-phone—the compact little radiophone case inside his space-suit’s neck—and slip it into the girl’s grasp. He dared utter no word of explanation, but apparently she understood, for she had concealed the suit-phone by the time they reached the upper-deck. | 2022-04-25 |
| suit phone n. | 1970 Ringworld (1976) ix. 129 They could hear him breathing. Once they heard a startled snarling sound. But he never said a word into the suit phone. He was out there a full half-hour, while the heated thing darkened to near-invisibility. Presently he returned to the Liar. When he entered the lounge, he had their complete and respectful attention. | 2022-04-25 |
| suit phone n. | 1932 Moon Destroyers in Wonder Stories Quarterly Winter 219/2 [T]hrough the phone in his space suit he heard Linet’s voice. ‘Erickson and Edward are knocked out. Let’s see what we did to these chaps here.’ [...] Here and there lay bodies, pirates caught unawares. Suddenly Holden saw a blue flash. One of the mechanics clutched at his breast and fell, dead in an instant. ‘Some of these fellows are still alive. They’re using ray pistols,’ Holden shouted into his suit phone. | 2022-04-25 |
| suit phone n. | 1942 Death on the Siderite in Thrilling Wonder Stories Feb. 94/2 Tony, my pack-boy, moved step by step further from the head. His suit phone was on. I heard his excited breathing as prayers were whispered to his favorite saints. Cold of the void was in the room. | 2022-04-25 |
| suit phone n. | 1952 Forgive Us Our Debts in Future Science Fiction Stories May 54/1 He [...] began a report before he reached the control room, coupling in through his suit phone. ‘They have a dozen languages, father—but one of them in the same as the language of the old records! They pronounce it oddly, but on one island they seem to be trying to revive it—they call it English! [...]’ | 2022-04-25 |
| suit phone n. | 1969 In the Shield in Worlds of If Jan. iii. 131/1 Still the noise persisted. ‘It’s the same sound,’ Sam shouted into his suit phone, ‘that I heard when I was obeying the hypnotic commands.’ | 2022-04-25 |
| suit phone n. | 1988 Those of My Blood xxiii. 386 ‘There’s a jack here somewhere, to connect a suitphone...’ [...] Titus got the phone jack into place just in time to hear the commander’s voice say, ‘...no wild stories! Now I don’t believe—’ He broke off, and his voice was muffled as he asked, ‘What? They did? There are? You mean he’s legit?’ | 2022-04-25 |
| suit phone n. | 1978 Chaining the Lady vi. 101 [S]he jumped with both feet. Suddenly she was falling through space—with no safety line. It had been a natural reaction, but a mistaken one. She screamed. There was a clamor in her suitphone as the startled men exclaimed. ‘The fool! Doesn’t she know not to—’ ‘Get another line and jet!’ ‘No time; she’ll be out of range before we can—’ | 2022-04-25 |
| suit phone n. | 1974 Stargate in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact July vii. 80/2 In front of me, Captain Wilkins—every inch the captain; there was no mistaking him—silently mouthed a conversation with the station Gatekeeper. The technician nodded and walked toward me, reaching for my helmet. Captain Wilkins touched an intercom plate. The suitphone popped. ‘As soon as we get you out of that suit, I’ll give you the grand tour, Mr. Collins.’ | 2022-04-25 |
| suit phone n. | 1972 Pritcher Mass viii. 93 They got up, left the dining area, and took the elevator to the top level. Ten minutes later they were out on the deck in their airsuits, walking clumsily side by side toward a cage at the foot of one of the masts. ‘Keep your suit phone open on my circuit,’ her voice said in his earphones. ‘That way I’ll be able to hear anything you say. Usually, if people begin to hallucinate here on the Mass, they talk or make some kind of sounds that gives it away.’ | 2022-04-25 |
| suit phone n. | 1965 Blood Red Game (1977) xii. 106 ‘If I need help I’ll call you in my suit-phone,’ he said as he picked up his discarded helmet. ‘If you need them—suits are here.’ He went to the airlock’s elevator. ‘I’ll keep my suit-phone receiver on. If you see anything—any trace of Mary—let me know. Have the scanners working full-time.’ | 2022-04-25 |
| suit phone n. | 1992 Cold As Ice (1993) xvii. 252 [during a search and rescue operation on Europa] I’d love to see what’s down there, but two of us might be more load than the rim can take. I’ll step back a few meters for safety, then you go ahead. Keep me informed through your suit phone. I’ll pass the word to the others. | 2022-04-25 |
| suit phone n. | 2006 Dog Soldier in Best of Jim Baen’s Universe (2007) 17 He wondered what the hell it was doing, till his damage control telltales showed one restored com circuit. The DOG’s tail was its antenna and input fiber, and it had just plugged into his suit phone. ‘Well done!’ Gillies exclaimed again. The tail wagged a little, but not too much. | 2022-04-25 |
| flitter n. | 1966 Frost Planet in Worlds of Tomorrow Nov. 46/2 Man three or four squad flitters and get them aloft. Tell them to intercept and turn back anyone headed for Lubtown. | 2022-04-21 |
| flitter n. | 2015 Biology at the End of the World in Asimov’s Science Fiction Sept. 15 The agristation was part of a community of college stations, so we flew into a constellation of habitats and ships. Sumot chose to dock the Orion 8 at the university’s main station and take one of our flitters to the agristation. | 2022-04-21 |
| Titanese adj. | 1932 Creatures of Vibration in Astounding Stories Jan. 16/2 Carr was first to step from the opened manhole to the soft carpet of the Titanese forest. He found the air cool and crisp, with a tang of ozone assailing his nostrils. | 2022-04-19 |
| Titanese adj. | 2019 Midway on Waves in Analog Science Fiction & Fact May–June 117/1 ‘Here you are: auspicious noodles. A bit of luck for your journey back to Earth.’ The tourist peered at the bowl and dabbed the chopsticks into it as if he expected the broth to eat them away. ‘You’re sure this is authentic Titan cuisine?’ Naomi narrowed her eyes. ‘Made on Titan, by a Titanese person, from ingredients sourced from Titan, and impossible to make anywhere else. No, it’s 100 percent Martian.’ | 2022-04-19 |
| Titanese adj. | 2016 Supernova 288 Only thin glass overhead separated her from the freezing inhospitality of Titan. Yellow lightning flashed; liquid methane slid greasily down the glass from the Titanese storm overhead. [Ibid.] The level Titanese stone stretched out so far to Constance’s left and right that she almost could not see where the glass came down again to seal off what once had been an air lock between sections of the greenhouse. | 2022-04-19 |
| Titanese n. | 1932 Creatures of Vibration in Astounding Stories Jan. 22/1 But he saw that its entrance door was open and that the space inside was too small for any of them excepting one of the small stature of the Titanese. It was crammed with machinery. Nazu was the only one of their number who could squeeze into the thing; in fact he alone knew how to operate the queer flying machine. | 2022-04-19 |
| Titanese n. | 1952 War of the Moons in Fantastic Science Fiction Dec. 7/2 Len Ryder gritted his teeth at thought of such fine mechanical contrivances falling to the hands of the Titans. Under his breath, Len muttered: ‘Aka aka aka’ which in Titanese meant ‘C’est la guerre.’ | 2022-04-19 |
| Titanese n. | 1977 Eyes of Amber in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact June 20/1 ‘Ah! Of course. The old brain is not what it was...’ She shook her gray-white head; her black cloak swirled out melodramatically. He grinned, knowing she didn’t mean a word of it. ‘Maybe learning Titanese on top of fifty other languages is the straw that breaks the camel’s back.’ | 2022-04-19 |
| dimension n. | 1961 The Twilight Zone (season 3) (opening narration) You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. Your next stop…the Twilight Zone. | 2022-04-19 |
| autodoc n. | 1965 World of Ptavvs in Worlds of Tomorrow Mar. 48/2 ‘Say, how come I rate a human doctor, anyway?’ ‘What happened to you isn’t programmed into the autodocs.’ | 2022-04-18 |
| Titanian adj. | 1931 Spacehounds of IPC in Amazing Stories Aug. vi. 411/1 Day after day the brilliant sphere flew toward distant Saturn, with the wreckage of the Forlorn Hope in tow. Piece by piece that wreckage was brought together and held in place by the Titanian tractors; and slowly but steadily, under Stevens’ terrific welding projector, the stubborn steel flowed together, once more to become a seamless, spaceworthy structure. | 2022-04-18 |
| Titanian adj. | 1935 Flight on Titan in Astounding Stories Jan. ii. 107/2 He wanted to kiss her—an impossibility, of course, in a Titanian night. It would have been a kiss of death; they would have died with lips frozen each to the others. He put away the thought that maybe that might be the pleasanter way, since death was inevitable now, anyway. Better, he decided, to die fighting. | 2022-04-18 |
| Titanian adj. | 1939 Impossible World in Startling Stories Mar. vii. 41 After a stop at the Titanian docks for fuel and replacements of their emptied oxygen tanks, the ETBI-14 and its Ranger convoy lumbered for wayward lapetus. | 2022-04-18 |