needle v.

to fire a needle gun or needle-beam at

Weaponry

  • 1943 E. F. Russell Symbiotica in Astounding Science-Fiction Oct. 152/2 page image Eric Frank Russell

    These things were the remains of the two natives he’d needled, but the needlers had not caused that awful rotting of the flesh.

  • 1948 H. B. Piper Police Operation in Astounding Science Fiction July 18/1 H. Beam Piper

    And when I back-slip, after I've been needled, I generate a new time-line? Is that it?

  • 1953 A. Norton Star Rangers ii. 39 Andre Norton bibliography

    The longer Smitt needled him in that fashion the more uneasy he became.

  • 1957 P. Anderson Brake in Astounding Science Fiction Aug. 10/2 Poul Anderson bibliography

    Quickly, now, go to my cabin. I shall be behind, If necessary I will needle you and drag you there.

  • 1976 R. C. Meredith Run, Come See Jerusalem! 9 Richard C. Meredith

    I expected to see another boxy chronalcage come shimmering, screaming out of time at any moment, its occupants armed and ready to needle me out—if not kill me outright—and take me back to stand trial.

  • 1979 L. Killough Doppelganger Gambit i. 15

    She let go of the gun. No sense needling him now. The four to ten seconds the percurare took to work was time enough for him to empty the shooter at her.

  • 1984 G. R. Dickson Final Encyclopedia xxiv. 235 Gordon R. Dickson

    Hal touched him gently on the shoulder and went to look at the other two casualties, a woman who had taken a weapon burn in her right shoulder, superficial but painful, and a man who had been needled in the chest. Both these other two were unconscious, under sedation.

  • 2010 I. McDonald Dervish House i. 19 page image Ian McDonald bibliography

    If the scene-of-crime bots see him they’ll needle him with their stings. That would be exciting.

Research requirements

antedating 1943
Earliest cite

Eric Frank Russell, 'Symbiotica'
Research History
Mike Stone suggested the stories in Eric Frank Russell's "Men, Martians and Machines", and Mike Christie located a cite in the 1943 first magazine appearance.
Douglas Winston submitted a 1976 cite from Richard Meredith's "Run, Come See Jerusalem!".
Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a reprint of H.Beam Piper's "Police Operation"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1948 first magazine appearance.
Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a 1985 reprint of Gordon R. Dickson's 1984 "The Final Encyclopedia".
Douglas Winston submitted a 1979 cite for "needling" from Lee Killough's "The Doppelganger Gambit".
Malcolm Farmer submitted a cite from a 1980 reprint of Poul Anderson's "Brake", which Mike Christie verified in the 1957 first publication.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2010 cite from Ian McDonald.

Last modified 2021-11-17 17:56:57
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.