dirtball n.

a planet

  • 1978 R. A. Lupoff Space War Blues 286

    In the sky of the Independent Planet of N'Alabama the R troop landing ship Lumumba took position in a N'Haitian picket line. In stationary orbit Lumumba effectively hovered, day and night, the glare of NGC 7007 alternately appearing and disappearing from behind the red dirtball constantly below.

  • 1989 S. Perry The 97th Step 74

    So, how'd you get stuck on this dirtball?

  • 1991 C. Claremont Grounded! 161 Chris Claremont

    Jesus Mary and Joseph, guys, we can hardly live together on this dirtball an' we're at least all the same species!

  • 1993 C. Rowley To Highland Nation 105

    They'll never accept you, Hof, you'll always be an Earther to them, a dirtball, if you know what I mean.

  • 1993 J. DeChancie & D. Bischoff Dr. Dimension 281

    All in favor of landing on this dirtball—this ‘planet’, if you can call it that—say ‘Aye’.

  • 2001 L.M. Bujold Ethan of Athos 44

    Those guys never stick their noses off their home dirtball.

  • 2002 D. Weber & S. White Shiva Option 78 David Weber Steve White

    Until the last frigging Bug on that dirt ball is dead, we assume their defenses are at one hundred percent.

Research requirements

antedating 1978
Earliest cite

Richard A. Lupoff, "Space War Blues"
Research History
Douglas Winston submitted a 1978 cite from Richard A. Lupoff's "Space War Blues"
Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a 2001 reprint of Lois McMaster Bujold's 1986 "Ethan of Athos"
Douglas Winston submitted a 1989 cite from Steve Perry's "The 97th Step"
Douglas Winston submitted a 1990 cite from Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon's "Sassinak"
Douglas Winston submitted a 1991 cite from Chris Claremont's "Grounded!"
Douglas Winston submitted a 1993 cite from John DeChancie and David Bischoff's "Dr.Dimension"
Douglas Winston submitted a 2002 cite for "dirt ball" from David Weber and Steve White's "The Shiva Option"

Douglas Winston submitted a 1991 cite from Christopher Rowley's "To a Highland Nation", in which "dirtball" was used as a derogatory term for a planet-dweller: we would be interested to see further uses in this sense of any date.

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