countergrav n.

= antigravity n.

Rare.

  • 1955 R. Wilson Girls from Planet 5 18

    Suppose they miscalculated the density of our atmosphere and found they were streaking down too fast. They put on the brakes, so to speak, to avoid a crash. The brakes are jets, or countergrav, or what have you, and they stop.

  • 1999 D. Weber On Basilisk Station 273 David Weber

    I’ll drop one of them with your main force, then use the counter-grav to swing the other north.

  • 2015 D. Weber Hell’s Foundations Quiver 46 page image David Weber bibliography

    The APCs were smaller and more readily concealable than assault shuttles, but they were also much slower. Even on counter-grav, they were uncompromisingly subsonic, capable of only about five hundred miles per hour, and Merlin preferred to have a supersonic dash capability in hand, just in case.

Research requirements

any evidence 1955
Earliest cite

Richard Wilson, "The Girls from Planet 5"
Research History
Mark Shawhan submitted a cite for "counter-grav" from a 1999 reprint of David Weber's "On Basilisk Station".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1955 cite from Richard Wilson's "The Girls from Planet 5".
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2015 cite from David Weber.

Suggested by Michael R N Dolbear. We would like to see cites of any date from other sources.

Last modified 2021-02-02 03:53:36
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.