groundlubber n.
[< ground + landlubber]
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[1918
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To the ground-lubber aviation may still be uncommon enough to appear to demand extraordinary men, but there are not enough of that sort to supply the demand for pilots.]
Training to Fly & Fight in Century Magazine Sept. 684/1 -
1939
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Robert A. Heinlein
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It’s a nuisance to have a bunch of ground-lubbers on board, sir.
Misfit in Astounding Science-Fiction Nov. 58/1 -
1941
Robert A. Heinlein
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With thousands of groundlubbers aboard, he was reluctatant to increase the acceleration above that point for any sustained period—even two g’s might put too much of a strain on some of them.
Methuselah’s Children in Astounding Science-Fiction Aug. 84/2 -
1942
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Robert A. Heinlein
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I suppose I am a bit of a groundlubber, but I keep expecting a floor underfoot and a ceiling overhead.
Waldo in Astounding Science-Fiction Aug. 21 -
1953
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Don Green
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For an amateur—and a ground[-]lubber at that—you’ve done right well.
Survival in Astounding Science Fiction July 75/1 -
1967
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James Blish
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Designed by some groundlubber in the hope of giving offense to nobody (or, as the official publicity had put it, ‘to accommodate all faiths of all planets,’ a task impossible on the face of it), the chapel was simplified and devoid of symbols to the point of insipidity; but its very existence acknowledged that even the tightly designed Enterprise was a world in itself, and as such had to recognize that human beings often have religious impulses.
Star Trek 55 -
1980
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Li is one of those paradoxes, like Isaac Asimov refusing to fly. For all his understanding of the issues of space, this is the first time he’s been further off-planet than a jetliner goes. He’s a groundlubber at heart.
Stardance 193 -
2020
Elizabeth Bear
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And Hhayazh, in particular, is the sort of twiggy, bristle-covered, black-carapaced insectoid sentience that gives groundlubbers the shrieking jimjams.
Machine i. 12
Research requirements
antedating 1939
Earliest cite
Robert A. Heinlein, "Misfit", in Astounding
Research History
Suggested by Ben Ostrowsky, who also submitted a 1942 cite from Robert Heinlein, a 1967 cite from James Blish, a 1980 cite from Jeanne and Spider Robinson, and a 2020 cite from Elizabeth Bear.
Last modified 2021-02-11 16:37:59
In the compilation of some
entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
in OED.