morph v. 2

transitive to change the shape or form of part of (something); to create (something) by such a transformation

  • 1997 B. Hambly Star Wars: Planet of Twilight (1998) 237 Barbara Hambly

    Pain stabbed through her… The soft-bodied thing that had fallen on her morphed out grabbing legs, hooks that sank into her flesh as she cried out and tried to pull it loose.

  • 1998 I. McDonald Days of Solomon Gursky in G. Dozois Mammoth Book of Best New Science Fiction, 12th Coll. (1999) 241 Ian McDonald

    The next morning they morphed the pod into an ash-runner and drove through the cindered forest.

  • 2001 K. A. Applegate Animorphs: Sacrifice 19 K. A. Applegate

    β€˜I personally have never known a falcon to throw up,’ I said. β€˜But you might want to demorph just in case.’ β€˜Yeah,’ Rachel said. β€˜And then morph something big and mean. Something that will help us fight our way out.’

Research requirements

antedating 1997
Earliest cite

B. Hambly 'Planet of Twilight'
Research History
This is the transitive version of the verb; e.g. 'it morphed out grabbing legs'.

Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a 1998 reprint of Barbara Hambly's 1997 "Planet of Twilight".
Rachel Flynn submitted a 2001 cite from K.A. Applegate's "Animorphs".

We would like cites of any date from other sources.

Last modified 2021-01-15 21:46:33
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.