spaceship n.
a spacecraft; esp. a manned one under the control of its crew
Science
Vehicles
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1880 Pall Mall Gazette 20 Jan. 12/1
The Apergy once mastered, it was comparatively easy to anticipate and improve upon the ideas of a trifler like Jules Verne, and build a space-ship.
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1894
‘What sort of space-ship do you propose to have?’ asked the vice-president.
Journey in Other Worlds I. vi. 93 -
1929
page image
Otto Willi Gail
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Since the space ship, with exhausts cut off, was circling freely in space…the proximity of the moon was no hindrance to leaving the ship.
trans. O. W. Gail Shot into Infinity in Science Wonder Quarterly Fall 65/2 -
1932 Wonder Stories Apr. 1249/1
A long, flexible tube between the ships permitted them to go from the passenger liner to the space ship without space suits.
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1938
C. S. Lewis
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All he ever remembered of his first meal in the space-ship was the tyranny of heat and light.
Out of Silent Planet iv. 38 -
1941 Super Science Stories Nov.
Would it be that for the first time in human history a—spaceship had reached the Earth?
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1952
James Blish
Obviously, whatever the ancients had known about spaceship construction, very little of that knowledge was usable.
in Galaxy Aug. 25/1
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?a1965
Gene Roddenberry
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April and his crew, unlike our limited astronauts of today, are in charge of their own destiny, must find their own answers to the jeopardies they meet on far-off worlds. The perfected spaceship concept allows us to move efficiently from story to story, freeing the audience from tiresome details of technology and hardware. Our aim is drama and adventure.
Original outline for ‘Star Trek’ in S. E. Whitfield & G. Roddenberry Making of ‘Star Trek’ (1968) i. 25
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1966
Samuel R. Delany
Managing a spaceship crew takes a special sort of psychology.
Babel-17 . ii. 27
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1974
Ursula K. Le Guin
She was wearing the Defense armband, a sight almost as rare as a spaceship.
Dispossessed (1975) i. 2
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1987
Greg Bear
That cinder cone’s a spaceship, or a spaceship is buried underneath.
Forge of God (1988) 21
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1992 Locus Aug. 4/1
The first story…has the most complete description of a biological life support system for a spaceship that I’ve ever run into in science fiction.
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2016
Corinne Duyvis
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I like that you’re faced with an interstellar spaceship and decide that what it really needs is fewer typos.
On the Edge of Gone lxi. 447 -
2021
Nnedi Okorafor
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After tossing and turning for two hours, she’d gotten up to play with her plush rabbit. ‘You are very nice,’ she told it as she sat on her bed. ‘But you’re not like my seed.’ She paused, listening with her six-year-old ears. ‘It’s not my fault,’ the rabbit responded in a soft baby voice. She smiled. ‘I know. But it doesn’t change the fact. Adults never understand.’ ‘Come on, let’s play spaceship,’ the rabbit said. And Fatima and the rabbit shot into space for a few minutes. The rebellion of playing with her new toy when she was supposed to be asleep gave her a bit of satisfaction.
Remote Control ii. 41
Research requirements
antedating 1880
Earliest cite
Pall Mall Gazette
Research History
A reader for the OED found an 1880 quotation in the Pall Mall Gazette, referencing Jules Verne.
Last modified 2020-12-16 04:08:47
In the compilation of some
entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
in OED.