downtime adj.

esp. in time-travel contexts: in or from the past; cf. uptime adj.

Time Travel

  • 1978 C. Kilian Empire of Time (1985) 27 Crawford Kilian bibliography

    Manned space probes might have been sent out, but were not. Too much evidence existed to suggest that Doomsday had been caused by alien intruders, who might still be in the neighborhood. Attracting their attention might lead to their discovery of the downtime chronoplanes.

  • 1982 P. Campbell Slow Harry in Extro Feb.–Mar. 13/3 page image Paul Campbell (1980s) bibliography

    Who was it rescued you the last time you ran off, saved you from being battered to death by a mob of downtime hooligans?

  • 2000 R. MacB. Allen Depths of Time (2001) 4 Roger MacBride Allen bibliography

    Why hadn’t the Standfast, the downtime ship, sent some sort of alert throughthe shaftlink comm system?… The signal had been flashed from the Standfast to the downtime stationkeeping laser relay.

Research requirements

any evidence 1978
Earliest cite

Crawford Kilian, 'The Empire of Time'
Research History
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1985 reprint of Crawford Kilian's "The Empire of Time"; we would like to verify the cite in the 1978 first edition.

We would like cites of any date from other sources.

Last modified 2021-02-21 01:53:55
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.