time-path n.

= timestream n.

Time Travel

  • 1934 ‘M. Leinster’ Sidewise in Time in Astounding Stories June 42/1 page image Murray Leinster bibliography

    We've been here for hours, and there’s been no further change in time paths that we've noticed. Is it likely that the scrambling of time and space is ended, sir? If it has, and the time paths stay jumbled, we'll never find our world intact, of course, but we can hunt for colonies, perhaps even cities, of our own kind of people.

  • 1939 C. D. Simak Cosmic Engineers in Astounding Science-Fiction Apr. 125/1 Clifford D. Simak bibliography

    You came trundling down a crazy time-path to seek me out. So that I could tell you the things you need to know.

  • 1956 P. K. Dick Minority Report in Fantastic Universe Jan. 19/1 page image Philip K. Dick bibliography

    Unanimity of all three precogs is a hoped-for but seldom-achieved phenomenon, acting-Commissioner Witwer explains. It is much more common to obtain a collaborative majority report of two precogs, plus a minority report of some slight variation, usually with reference to time and place, from the third mutant. This is explained by the theory of multiple-futures. If only one time-path existed, precognitive information would be of no importance, since no possibility would exist, in possessing this information of altering the future.

  • 1978 I. Asimov Fair Exchange in Asimov’s SF Adventure Magazine Fall 64/1 page image Isaac Asimov bibliography

    Did even so small a thing as the publication of Thespis set up its ripples and create an alternate time-path, and was I in that alternate time-path?

  • 2004 F. G. MacIntyre Annual Annular Annals in Analog Science Fiction & Fact Jan.–Feb. 169/1 F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre bibliography

    ‘Smedley Faversham!’ said the timecop Julie Anne Callender, reaching for her blaster pistol. ‘What the hell are you doing in 1999?’ ‘I’m waiting till the coast is clear,’ said the time-thief. There was dust in his voice. The last time that Patrolwoman Callender had crossed the time-path of Smedley Faversham, he had been young and vigorous. Yet now he seemed incredibly old.


Research requirements

antedating 1934

Earliest cite

Murray Leinster, 'Sidewise in Time'

Research History
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1950 reprint of Clifford D. Simak's 1939 "Cosmic Engineers".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1956 cite from Philip K. Dick's "The Minority Report".
Rick Hauptman submitted a cite from a 1985 reprint of Murray Leinster's "Sidewise in Time"; Mike Christie verified this in the 1934 original publication.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2004 cite from F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre.

Last modified 2022-02-23 12:23:58
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.