pod person n.

an alien, a monster; a person considered to be conformist, unoriginal, or emotionless; one who lacks personality or individuality

pl. pod people

[< pod, in the 1955 Jack Finney novel The Body Snatchers and esp. the 1956 film adaptation Invasion of the Body Snatchers: a plant-like alien capable of replicating a person exactly]

Aliens

  • [1955 J. Finney Body Snatchers (1976) 153

    The pods are a parasite on whatever life they encounter… They have the ability to reform and reconstitute themselves into perfect duplication, cell for living cell, of any life form they may encounter.]

  • 1956 Motion Picture Exhibitor 25 Jan. 35/2 page image

    Invasion Of The Body Snatchers…. They try to escape but the pod people are everywhere.

  • 1956 Variety 29 Feb. 6/4 page image

    Invasion of the Body Snatchers….McCarthy finally is able to get away, after femme during a sleep of sheer exhaustion becomes a ‘pod person’.

  • 1978 Washington Post 2 Apr. k1

    No caricature of this ideal being is possible…; it’s the home-grown pod-person of the S-F classic ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’.

  • 1992 D. Coupland Shampoo Planet xii. 61

    He’s become a pod person: functioning but without a soul.

  • 2004 J. Weiner Little Earthquakes 388

    ‘I feel sorry for her.’… Andrew narrowed his eyes. ‘˜Have you been taken over by the pod people?’

Research History

Last modified 2024-09-25 14:59:59
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.