starship n.
a spaceship capable of interstellar travel
In the 1882 quotation, from a work of spiritualism whose author claimed it was produced by automatic writing; the ships in question travel in spiritual realms between heaven and earth.
SF Encyclopedia
Vehicles
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[1882
For three days and nights Sue held his star-ship to the wonderful task of mastering by the marvelous scene.]
Oahspe 97/2 -
1926
Before they quarrelled, the two scientists invented a wonderful projectile, capable of travelling through the millions of miles of ether that separated Ikon and the world, swearing a solemn vow that neither would use it except in the interests of the earthmen. But crazy, planning diabolical schemes of world rulership, Swarfsmidt travelled, aboard his starship, to Ikon, where he obtained supreme power.
War in Space in Boys' Magazine 16 Oct. 30/1
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1930
page image
Frank J. Brueckel, Jr.
bibliography
I absolutely forbid you to publish the details concerning the ultra-violet ray which will be the propulsive power of the star-ship.
War Lord of Venus in Wonder Stories Sept. 296/1 -
1947
page image
Edmond Hamilton
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In each solar system there are a handful of Vramen who keep constant check, by means of super-radiolocator devices, over every star-ship that arrives at or departs from that system.
Star of Life in Startling Stories Jan. 24/2 -
1961
Fritz Leiber
A lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific and a starship between galaxies are not in it for loneliness.
Big Time (1969) 73
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1967
D. C. Fontana
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We have, in the course of a season and a half, established that Star Fleet includes 12 ships of the starship class.
Memo 8 Aug. in S. E. Whitfield & G. Roddenberry Making of ‘Star Trek’ (1968) i. 163
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1972
Marion Zimmer Bradley
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But he hadn’t been prepared to be cut off from the mainstream of Earth—no starships, no contact or communication with the rest of the Galaxy, perhaps for generations, perhaps forever.
Darkover Landfall xi. 106
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1977
Orson Scott Card
On his first day Ender Wiggin was taught about the ansible and what it meant to warfare. It meant that even though the starships of today’s battles were launched a hundred years ago, the commanders of the starships were men of today, who used the ansible to send messages to the computers and the few men on each ship. The ansible sent words as they were spoken, orders as they were made. Battleplans as they were fought. Light was a pedestrian.
in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact Aug. 118/1
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1983
Marion Zimmer Bradley
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You know, and I knew before I had been here a tenday, that Russ Montray is no more fit to be Legate…than I am to pilot a starship!
Thendara House (1991) i. 15
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1985
S. P. Somtow
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The two enemy starships that were left had slowed their fire now.
Alien Swordmaster . vi. 39
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1987
David Brin
Sam Tenance was a starship pilot who stopped at Garth every five years or so, one of Megan’s three spacer husbands.
Uplift War 306
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1990
Ian Watson
A country run by mysticism might launch Armageddon against an alien starship if they believed it held the Antichrist.
Flies of Memory i. 45
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1992
Allen Steele
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Although a starship has never been found, circumstantial evidence suggests that it was dismantled and that the Cooties did not leave our Solar System again.
Labyrinth of Night 72
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1995
Dean Wesley Smith
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
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Starship? They called these things starships. The word evoked night skies filled with stars, warm jungle air around him, and birds chirping in nearby trees. Some poetry, then, to these people.
Star Trek Voyager: Escape xxi. 207
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1995
Amy Thomson
Radio and starships were beyond the scope of these aliens' lives.
Color of Distance (1999) viii. 85
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2004
Peter F. Hamilton
With Nigel’s blessing, CST had started practical design work on the starship three days earlier.
Pandora’s Star iii. 76
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2019
Yoon Ha Lee
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I’d seen views of it from orbit on the news services: a glitter-mass of silver and gold rising from the darker ruddy plateau on which the city had been built, the needle-flash of starships arcing to and from the spaceport.
Dragon Pearl iv. 32
Research requirements
antedating 1926
Earliest cite
Raymond Quiex, "The War in Space"
Research History
John Eggeling submitted a 1926 cite from the magazine serialization of Raymond Quiex's "The War in Space"Fred Galvin found a number of references to star-ships in an online edition of John Ballou Newbrough's "Oahspe, A Kosmon Bible in the Words of Jehovih and his Angel Ambassadors", first published in 1882. However, the word is not used in quite the SF sense, as the ships referred to in the book appear to travel in spiritual realms between Heaven and Earth. Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2019 cite from Yoon Ha Lee.
We would still like to see any cites for the SF sense from before 1926.
Last modified 2021-03-31 21:47:08
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entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
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