null-g n.

(as adjective) relating to, producing, or designed for a condition of zero gravity; (as noun) zero gravity: the state or condition in which there is no apparent force of gravity acting on a body, either because the force is locally weak, or because both the body and its surroundings are freely and equally accelerating under gravity; (also) a device or system that negates the force of gravity; cf. slightly earlier null-grav n.

Also null-gee.

  • 1953 O. Saari in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Apr. 84 page image

    You're about my age—you must remember when they shot the parts of the first moon rocket up to the Space Station. Alphonse Craig was putting them together. Greatest single-handed construction job ever done! He had to start from scratch, learning all the null-g and vacuum techniques without another pair of hands nor another brain to help him.

  • 1953 O. Saari in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Apr. 87 page image

    The Station job requires a little bit of brawn—wrestling with masses takes muscles, even in null-g.

  • 1956 A. Bester in Galaxy Oct. 48/1 Alfred Bester bibliography

    I cite the Null-G anti-gravity installations of 2022.

  • 1958 R. Silverberg Invaders from Earth (1987) ix. 88 Robert Silverberg

    You slept through the whole thing, it seems. Blast-off and null-g and everything.

  • 1974 L. Niven & J. Pournelle Mote in God’s Eye (1975) iii. xxxi. 316 Larry Niven Jerry Pournelle bibliography

    Null-gee races were a favorite if slightly nonregulation game with midshipmen.

  • 1977 A. D. Foster End of Matter 210 Alan Dean Foster

    The hold was little more than a vast open sphere within which all kinds of cargo could be stored at null g.

  • 1987 Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact Dec. 15/2

    ‘Speaking of rotation—how are you handling null-g deconditioning in your people? I don’t—’ his eyes inventoried the enormous structure, ‘I don’t even see an exercise wheel. No spinning gym?’ ‘There’s a null-g gym. The rotating personnel get a month downside after every three-month shift.’

  • 1987 Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact Dec. 16/1

    Leo released his seat restraints, and stretched and relaxed in the pleasurable familiarity of weightlessness. Not for him the unfortunate nauseas of null-g that sapped the efficiency of so many employees.

  • 2019 Y. H. Lee Dragon Pearl xxvi. 215 Yoon Ha Lee bibliography

    Good thing I hadn’t eaten recently. I was pretty sure puking in null-gee was even more disgusting than doing it was in normal gravity.


Research requirements

antedating 1953

Earliest cite

Oliver Saari, "The Space Man"

Research History
Mike Christie submitted a 1956 cite from Alfred Bester's "The Stars My Destination".
Douglas Winston submitted a 1989 cite from L.E. Modesitt's "The Ecolitan Operation".
Douglas Winston submitted a 1977 cite from Alan Dean Foster's "The End of the Matter".
Ralf Brown located and Richard Horton submitted a 1987 cite from Lois McMaster Bujold's "Falling Free".
Jeff Prucher submitted a 2003 cite from Joe Haldeman's "Giza".
Douglas Winston submitted a 1977 cite from Colin Kapp's "The Chaos Weapon".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1953 cite from Oliver Saari's "The Space Man".
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2019 cite from Yoon Ha Lee.

Added to the OED in March 2004 as part of the entry for "null", with earliest date of 1956.

Last modified 2021-12-21 12:41:53
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.