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.

  • 2016 C. J. Anders All the Birds in the Sky ii. 29 Charlie Jane Anders bibliography

    ‘Oh.’ Laurence looked into his hot-chocolate foam. So that was it. He wasn’t going to get to see anything. Somehow he’d let himself believe that if he saw a rocket blast off, something that had been right in front of him and was now free of our planet’s gravity, he would be set free, too.

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.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2016 cite from C. J. Anders.

Earliest cite in the OED: 1951.

Last modified 2021-08-12 16:51:17
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.