blast off v.

(of a person or being) to take off in a spaceship, esp. one propelled by rockets; (of a spaceship) to take off

  • 1937 E. E. Smith Galactic Patrol in Astounding Stories Sept. 31/2 page image Edward E. Smith bibliography

    How long do you figure it'll be before it’s safe for us to blast off?

  • 1940 Thrilling Wonder Stories Jan. 120/2 page image

    The Abbott’s [sic] left them here for me to sort out when they blasted off for Mars three weeks ago, to get Tommy into school there for the Spring term.

  • 1952 W. M. Miller Blood Bank in Astounding Science-Fiction June 96/2 page image Walter M. Miller, Jr. bibliography

    We blasted off Jod VII at thirteen hours, Universal Patrol Time.

  • 1956 M. Lesser My Sweetheart's the Man in the Moon in Infinity Science Fiction Dec. 17/1 page image Milton Lesser bibliography

    The automatic spaceship blasted off for the moon.

Research requirements

antedating 1937
Earliest cite

E.E. Smith, 'Galactic Patrol'
Research History
Jeff Prucher submitted a 1940 cite from Robert Arthur in Thrilling Wonder Stories.
Fred Galvin submitted cites from a 1983 reprint of E.E. 'Doc' Smith's "Galactic Patrol". This had been rewritten by Smith for book publication: Mike Christie found one cite missing in the original 1937 serialization, but was able to verify another in this version.

Earliest cite in the OED: 1951.

Last modified 2020-12-16 04:08:47
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.