time cop n.

a member of the time police n.

SF Encyclopedia


Time Travel

  • 1953 C. M. Kornbluth Time Bum in Fantastic Jan.–“Feb. 143/2 page image C. M. Kornbluth

    TAIM KOP NABD: PROSKYOOTR ASKS DETH Patrolm'n Oskr Garth 'v thi Taim Polis w'z arest'd toodei at hiz hom, 4365 9863th Strit, and bookd at 9768th Prisint on tchardg'z 'v Polis-Ekspozh'r.

  • 1991 J. Clute SF Novels of Year in D. Garnett New Worlds 1 251 John Clute

    Poul Anderson…provided in The Shield of Time…another meditative time-cops foray into the past, where the gang played pattycake once again with history in order to save some awful new era.

  • 1992 J. Killus Great Lost Inventions in Amazing Stories May 49/1 page image James Killus bibliography

    The tough Time Cop sneered. ‘You're just about to invent a perpetual motion machine.’

  • 2000 N. Spinrad On Books in Asimov’s Science Fiction Oct.–Nov. 230/1 page image Norman Spinrad

    A group of renegade agents of the Moiety…seek [sic] to change history to prevent the Holocaust…. Time cop Gaspar James leads the Moiety’s efforts.

  • 2009 Little White Lies Mar.–Apr. 71/4 page image

    [review of the movie Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel] Anna Faris…pops up every now and then as an inept time cop.

Research requirements

antedating 1953
Earliest cite

C. M. Kornbluth, 'Time Bum'
Research History
Fred Galvin submitted a 1953 cite from C. M. Kornbluth's "Time Bum" (in the form "taim kop" -- the cite is written in a future dialect).

Suggested by Graham Nelson (graham@gnelson.demon.co.uk), 3/16/04. Apparently the title of a 1994 movie (and subsequent TV show and tie-ins); Google has a large number of hits for the word, even allowing for the various media.

Last modified 2020-12-16 04:08:47
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.