spacehound n.

an experienced spaceman or spacewoman

Now rare.

  • 1931 E. E. Smith Spacehounds of IPC in Amazing Stories July 304 page image Edward E. Smith bibliography

    ‘I was horribly dizzy and nauseated at first, but it’s going away.’ ‘That’s good…. If you’re as well as that already, you'll be a regular spacehound in half an hour.’

  • 1940 N. S. Bond Legacy in Astounding Science-Fiction Dec. 38/2 page image Nelson S. Bond bibliography

    But Hawkins was an old spacehound, just barely hanging on.

  • 1940 N. S. Bond ‘Shall Stay These Couriers…’ in Thrilling Wonder Stories Nov. 83/2 page image Nelson S. Bond bibliography

    For a hard-bitten old spacehound, he knows more about botany than any man I've ever met.

  • 1940 ‘G. Danzell’ Castaway in Planet Stories Winter 37/2 page image Nelson S. Bond bibliography

    He was a good man, Cap McNeally. A hardened spacehound, canny and wise to the ways of the void, always on deck in moments of emergency. That’s why the IPS, the Corporation for which we work, had placed him in command of the Antigone, finest and fastest ship in the fleet.

  • 1948 K. Putnam Dud in Thrilling Wonder Stories Apr. 90/1

    What in all infested outer space does that spacehound mean by talking to me like that?

  • 1951 T. Sturgeon Last Laugh in Other Worlds Mar. 7/2 Theodore Sturgeon

    I'm just an old space-hound, but I know what I'm talking about.

  • 1961 E. E. Smith & E. E. Evans Masters of Space in Worlds of If Nov. 26/2 page image

    Sawtelle smiled—the first time the startled Hilton had known that the hard, tough old spacehound could smile.

  • 1978 J. Robinson & S. Robinson Stardance II in Analog Sept. 27/1 page image Spider Robinson Jeanne Robinson bibliography

    My attempts to play seasoned old spacehound to Norrey’s breathless tourist were laughably unsuccessful. No one ever gets jaded to space, and I took deep satisfaction in being the one who introduced Norrey to it.

  • 1999 D. Weber Apocalypse Troll i. 4 page image David Weber bibliography

    And there were barriers, still imperfectly understood, between the bands that meant cracking the wall was always risky. If a ship hit the wall just wrong or with the slightest harmonic in her translation field, she simply disappeared. She went acoherent, spread over a multitude of dimensions and forever unable to reconstitute herself, a thought which broke a cold sweat on the most hardened spacehound, for no one knew what happened inside the ship. Did the crew die? Did they go into some sort of stasis? Or did they gradually discover what had happened... and that they had become a galactic Flying Dutchman for all eternity?

  • 2008 P. Melko Singularity’s Ring iii. 103 page image Paul Melko bibliography

    ‘There was no way,’ Flora said, ‘a ship from L4 would have reached me in time with my air supply.’ ‘You did the right thing,’ Aldo said. ‘And you did it better than I could have done it.‘ He took a small box from his pocket and opened it. ‘You may not be on outside duty anymore, but you're still a space hound.’


Research requirements

antedating 1931

Earliest cite

"Doc" Smith, "Spacehounds of IPC"

Research History
Mike Christie submitted a 1940 cite from Nelson S. Bond's "Legacy".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1949 cite from A. E. Van Vogt's "Project Spaceship".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1941 cite from F. E. Hardart's "The Beast of Space".
Mike Christie submitted a 1940 cite from Nelson S. Bond's "'Shall Stay These Couriers . . .'".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1948 cite from Kenneth Putnam's "Dud".
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1956 reprint of Theodore Sturgeon's "Last Laugh"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1951 original.
Mike Christie submitted a 1940 cite from George Danzell's "Castaway".
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 1977 cite from Jeanne Robinson and Spider Robinson.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 1999 cite from David Weber.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2008 cite from Paul Melko.

Last modified 2021-09-13 11:49:02
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.