time barrier n.

something (either inherent or created) that prevents travel through time

Time Travel

  • 1933 R. Arthur, Jr. Theft of Washington Monument in Amazing Stories Oct. 511/1 page image Robert Arthur bibliography

    The temperator is capable of affecting the time over a certain limited area in such a manner that it will be removed and we will advance through time…. We tear down the time barrier that lies between us and to-morrow, or next week, or the next century. It is easily and quickly done, and I can control the force over quite a large area. All that is necessary is to start the dynamo, and at once we shoot through time.

  • 1946 R. M. Williams Man Next Door in Amazing Stories July 164/2 page image Robert Moore Williams bibliography

    When you tested it, it broke down the time barrier you had erected for protection.

  • 1953 ‘G. Duncan’ Galactic Quest in New Worlds Science Fiction Jan. 3 page image Sydney J. Bounds bibliography

    The Stella was…building up speed for the instant of transmission which would hurl her through the time-barrier.

  • 1967 I. Asimov Impossible, That’s All! in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Feb. 114 page image Isaac Asimov

    I’ve lost track of the number of letters that have reached me demanding, ‘Why can’t you go faster than light?’… ‘What makes you think that someday we won’t break the time barrier?’

  • 1981 J. Randi ‘Dear Editor…' in Destinies (Winter) 128 page image James Randi bibliography

    The amount of energy needed to make the initial breach of the formidable time barrier had proven enormous.

  • 2004 M. Hughes Relics of the Thim in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Aug. 155 page image Matthew Hughes bibliography

    ‘So you do not believe that Mitric Galvadon has broken the time barrier?’ ‘Time travel is impossible.’


Research requirements

antedating 1933

Last modified 2021-01-28 12:13:38
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.