suit up v.

to put on a spacesuit

  • 1948 R. A. Heinlein Black Pits of Luna in G. Conklin Possible Worlds of Science Fiction (1951) 26 Robert A. Heinlein bibliography

    I’ll go with you. Let’s suit up.

  • 1949 A. Coppel Starbusters in Planet Stories Summer 68/2 page image Alfred Coppel bibliography

    Strike and Cob Whitley suited up and armed themselves with spring-guns.

  • 1957 J. E. Gunn Space Is Lonely Place in Venture Science Fiction May 14/1 page image James E. Gunn bibliography

    I’ll go out and check.…Suit up and get ready to lend a hand.

  • 1963 H. A. Hargreaves Tee Vee Man in New Worlds Science Fiction Dec. 62 H. A. Hargreaves bibliography

    Reaching the airlock, Baldwin suited up, then dropped the air pressure and checked out.

  • 1966 P. Anderson Door To Anywhere in Galaxy Magazine Dec. 37/1 Poul Anderson bibliography

    Technicians waited at the locker to help him suit up, for they must be armored against vacuum and worse.

  • 1989 L. E. Modesitt Jr. Ecolitan Operation 328 L. E. Modesitt, Jr. bibliography

    He took a deep breath and relaxed. But only for an instant. ‘All right. Let’s suit up.’

  • 1991 T. Zahn Star Wars: Heir to the Empire (1992) 207 Timothy Zahn bibliography

    If you’ll hold your present position, X-wing, we'll move up close enough to throw a force cylinder out to you… Unless you’d rather suit up and spacewalk across.

  • 1993 K. S. Robinson Red Mars iii. 92 Kim Stanley Robinson bibliography

    They woke and suited up and went out again.

  • 1998 E. Moon Rules of Engagement 129 Elizabeth Moon bibliography

    Use your badges and readouts, and any time you’re actually opening units, suit up. This stuff is deadly.

  • 2001 B. Bova Precipice 257 Ben Bova bibliography

    ‘Going to help Pancho suit up?’ he asked. ‘I can—’ ‘Oh, there’s plenty of time for that,’ Amanda said brightly.

Research requirements

antedating 1948
Earliest cite

Robert A. Heinlein, "The Black Pits of Luna"
Research History
Douglas Winston submitted a 1966 cite from Poul Anderson's "Door To Anywhere".
Douglas Winston submitted a cite for the form "suit" from an undated reprint of Andre Norton's 1968 "The Zero Stone".
Michael Dolbear submitted a 1998 cite from Elizabeth Moon's "Rules of Engagement".
Katrina Campbell submitted a cite from a reprint of H.A. Hargreaves' "The Tee Vee Man"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1963 original magazine appearance.
Douglas Winston submitted a 1989 cite from L.E. Modesitt's "The Ecolitan Operation".
Douglas Winston submitted a 2001 cite from Ben Bova's "The Precipice".
Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a 1992 reprint of Timothy Zahn's 1991 "Heir to the Empire".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1957 cite from James E. Gunn's, "Space Is a Lonely Place".
David E. Siegel submitted a cite from an undated reprint of Heinlein's 1952 "The Rolling Stones"
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1951 reprint of Heinlein's "The Black Pits of Luna": we would like to verify this in its first publication (The Saturday Evening Post, January 10, 1948.)
Jesse Sheidlower submitted a 1949 cite from Alfred Coppel's "Starbusters".

The OED has a 1959 cite from James Blish's "A Clash of Cymbals".

Last modified 2021-01-12 03:25:22
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.