speeder n.

any of various small personal vehicles, typically travelling on or very close to the ground

See also landspeeder n.

Vehicles

  • 1932 ‘F. Flagg’ Resistant Ray in Amazing Stories July 348/1 page image Francis Flagg

    He whistled softly to himself, for under a thatched roof of yucca and bear grass stood a try-sky speeder of most modern make and design.

  • 1933 J. G. Ohmert Celestial Pioneers in Amazing Stories Quarterly Spring–Summer 544/1 page image J. G. Ohmert bibliography

    Stanton listening heard a faint rythmic [sic], metallic clicking which momentarily grew more audible and presently a small, gas-driven speeder appeared. The six miles to the plant were soon covered.

  • 1943 ‘L. Padgett’ Time Locker in Astounding Science-Fiction Jan. 104/1 Henry Kuttner bibliography

    He tooled the speeder downtown to the office building where he maintained a floor.

  • 1948 H. T. Simmons Z-Day on Centauri in Planet Stories Summer 6/1 page image Henry T. Simmons bibliography

    She motioned him in and no sooner had the door closed than the speeder leaped forward and melted into the traffic.

  • 1957 G. C. Edmondson Status Quo Peddlers in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Apr. 80/2 page image G. C. Edmondson

    I found a gasoline speeder a few miles down.

  • 1975 G. Lucas Adventures of the Starkiller (Star Wars, second draft, 28 Jan.) 43 George Lucas

    The speeder pulls up in front of a run-down, blockhouse cantina on the outskirts of the spaceport.

  • 1980 F. C. Gotschalk Among the Cliff-Dwellers of the San Andreas Canyon in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Sept. 13/1 page image Felix C. Gotschalk

    The speeder blasted away, pluming a thick, white roostertail of bleached dust high in the air. Ibid. 14/2 Minutes later, the speeder was whistling over the sparsely populated fringes of the city.

  • 1985 ‘E. bes Shahar’ Hellflower in Amazing Stories Mar. 50 page image Rosemary Edghill bibliography

    The speeder was just where I’d left it. I vaulted in and keyed the ignition.

  • 2015 SFX (#257) Mar. 14 page image

    This vessel looks a little like Luke’s speeder turned on its side.


Research requirements

antedating 1932

Research History
Suggested by Bill Mullins.

Last modified 2021-03-01 19:47:24
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.