thought shield n.

a mental barrier that prevents one’s thoughts from being read by a telepath; = mind shield n.

Paranormal

  • 1931 N. Schachner & A. L. Zagat Back to 20,000 A.D. in Wonder Stories Mar. 1143/2 page image Arthur Leo Zagat Nat Schachner bibliography

    You see, I was wearing the thought-shield, and according to my experience and the explanation of Arkon, no least thought vibration should escape through the barrier of its field.

  • 1931 N. Schachner & A. L. Zagat Back to 20,000 A.D. in Wonder Stories Mar. 1146/1 page image Arthur Leo Zagat Nat Schachner bibliography

    ‘Weren’t you afraid the Jed would know of your plans by reading your thoughts, and destroy you?’ Sid laughed. ‘A fine reporter you are. Blind as a bat. Look!’ I stared at him again, and was never more shamed in my life. For, encircling his forehead, plain for all to see, was—a thought-shield. So befuddled had I been that in all this time I had not noticed this obvious adornment on the heads of all who were congregated there.

  • 1940 A. E. van Vogt Slan in Astounding Science-Fiction Nov. 121/1 page image A. E. van Vogt bibliography

    She must have known her thought shield was faulty; and so, with the purest of animal cunning, she had allowed that pathetic little story to leak through, designed to show him that she would never, oh, never, have the courage for a fight to the finish.

  • 1951 J. H. Schmitz Space Fear in Astounding Science Fiction Mar. 33/1 page image James H. Schmitz bibliography

    Zone Agent Pagadan, for whom any kind of thought-shield on which she really directed her attention became as sheerest summer gossamer.

  • 1956 H. Warner, Jr. Think No Evil in Science Fiction Quarterly Feb. 12/2 page image Harry Warner, Jr. bibliography

    I had time to take careful aim, even to realize that my thought shield must be leaking and betraying the aircraft’s location, before I fired.

  • 1961 ‘C. Smith’ Alpha Ralpha Boulevard in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction June 18/2 page image Cordwainer Smith bibliography

    I capped my mind so tightly that the anti-telepathy felt like a headache…. Underneath my thought shield an animal thought crept in.

  • 1970 J. Blish Spock Must Die! x. 73 James Blish bibliography

    Who benefits from a thought-shield around Organia? None of us can begin to guess why the Organians would have wanted such a shield. [Ibid. xi. 79] The emotional effect of the thought-shield on the officers and crew was so profound that it took another forty-eight [hours] before anyone was working at even half his usual efficiency.

  • 1983 J. May Nonborn King 128 page image Julian May bibliography

    It is virtually impossible, even for a Grand Master, to probe deep thought levels at a distance. It is also difficult or impossible to farsense a person who has erected a superior thought-shield.

  • 2015 L. Smith Skandal 116 page image Lindsay Smith bibliography

    ‘You or Saxton, Anna. It has to be one of you.’ Her thought-shield unravels for a moment as she struggles to keep calm.


Research requirements

antedating 1931

Earliest cite

Nat Schachner and A. L. Zagat, in Wonder Stories

Research History
Mike Christie submitted a 1951 cite from James H. Schmitz's "Space Fear".

Last modified 2022-10-06 12:47:34
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.