boat n.

= spaceship n.

Vehicles

  • 1900 R. W. Cole Struggle for Empire x. 136 Robert W. Cole

    It was many months now since he had seen Flora, and it would be months before he could see her again: for the war was raging all round the planet, and it was unsafe for any boat but an armoured battleship to venture into space.

  • 1907 H. G. Bishop On the Martian Way in Broadway Magazine 1 Nov. 145/2 page image H. G. Bishop

    The R. D. Jones Co. was a fast freight line making weekly sailings to Mars from their Westchester station. The older Jones…had begun life as a clerk on a Lunar tramp, graduating from that to purser on a Martian oil boat.

  • 1930 E. E. Smith Skylark Three in Amazing Stories Sept. 545/2 page image Edward E. Smith bibliography

    ‘Since you’re not familiar with the controls of a ship of this type, you need practise. Shoot us up around that moon over there and bring us back to this spot.’ ‘She’s a sweet-handling boat—easy like a bicycle,’ declared Loring as he brought the vessel lightly to a landing upon their return.

  • 1939 L.A. Eshbach Mutineers of Space in Dynamic Sci. Stories Feb. 78/1 page image

    We can take the ship—and it shouldn’t be very difficult. When they make a transfer from one boat to another--ITL boats, that is—they swing toward each other till their airlocks touch, and the openings are sealed together with the rubber collars that rim the 'locks. Isn’t that right?

  • 1940 ‘L. Gregor’ Flight to Galileo in Astonishing Stories Oct. 106/1 page image

    A comet zoomed from the other side of the asteroid. Reeves, in his little boat, groaned against his chair straps. He'd been far away; it took time to get where he wanted at a speed low enough to be of any use.

  • 1952 Astounding Science Fiction Feb. 75/1

    The ship that landed as he was going on duty did nothing to lighten the load on his heart. In shape it was not distinguishable from any of the long-range cruisers which ran the legs of the Moon-Mars-Belt-Ganymede trip. But it grounded its huge bulk with less visible expenditures of power than one of the little intersatellary boats.

  • 2001 Cult Times Feb. 19/1

    If you’re not strong in your game of endowing other people with confidence and assuring them that you know what you’re doing, people tend to jump off the boat.


Research requirements

antedating 1900

Earliest cite

R. W. Cole, "The Struggle for Empire"

Research History
Fred Galvin submitted a 1930 cite from Edward E. Smith's "Skylark Three".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1952 cite from James Blish's "Bridge".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1951 cite from Poul Anderson's "Interloper".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1951 cite from Eric Frank Russell's "Ultima Thule".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1941 cite from Carl Selwyn's "Ice Planet".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1939 cite from Lloyd Arthur Eshbach's "Mutineers of Space".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1940 cite from Lee Gregor's "Flight to Galileo".
Simon Koppel submitted a 1900 cite from R. W. Cole's "The Struggle for Empire".

Last modified 2021-04-09 12:47:12
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.