collapsium n.

any of a variety of extremely high-density substances

  • 1958 H. B. Piper Graveyard of Dreams in Galaxy Science Fiction Feb. 132/1 H. Beam Piper bibliography

    Gehenna of a big crop. Priceโ€™ll drop like a brick of collapsium, and this time next year weโ€™ll be using brandy to wash our feet in!

  • 1972 H. Harrison Stainless Steel Rat's Return in Worlds of If Apr. 89/1 page image Harry Harrison bibliography

    The metal looked like collapsium, the incredibly tough stuff used for atomic rocket-tube liners.

  • 1981 T. Pratchett Strata 27 page image Terry Pratchett bibliography

    The temperature fell like collapsium.

  • 1989 K. Brown in Interzone Mayโ€“June 66/1 page image

    A collapsium-plated star-cruiser is a collapsium-plated star-cruiser in Poughkeepsie or in Peckham. Sf is, like rock music, a common frame of reference between the USA and the UK.

  • 1999 W. McCarthy Once Upon a Matter Crushed in Science Fiction Age July 41/1 page image Wil McCarthy bibliography

    The crowbar-to-be was in a very delicate stage right now, its collapsium lattice supported by little more than good intentions.

  • 2005 W. McCarthy To Crush the Moon 105 Wil McCarthy bibliography

    They had only two uses: they could be squeezed into the tiny black holes from which collapsium was made, or they could be exploited architecturally for their intrinsic gravity, which was considerable.

Research requirements

any evidence 1958
Earliest cite

H Beam Piper, Graveyard of Dreams
Research History
Malcolm Farmer located a cite in a Project Gutenberg edition of H. Beam Piper's "Graveyard of Dreams": Greg Weeks of the Distributed Proofreaders pointed us to online images of the original magazine pages so that the cite could be verified.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2005 cite from Wil McCarthy.
Clive Shergold submitted a 1981 cite from Terry Pratchett.

Last modified 2023-08-21 12:56:34
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.