warship n.

a military spaceship designed for combat

Vehicles

  • 1898 G. P. Serviss Edison’s Conquest of Mars in Los Angeles Herald 6 Feb. 22/7 page image Garrett P. Serviss bibliography

    As we speeded back across the continent we beheld beneath us again the burdened express trains rushing toward the Atlantic, and hundreds of thousands of upturned eyes watched our swift progress, and volleys of cheers reached our ears, for every one knew that this was Edison’s electrical war ship, on which the hope of the nation, and the hopes of all the nations, depended.

  • 1900 R. W. Cole Struggle for Empire xv. 199 Robert W. Cole bibliography

    New dockyards were erected among the heaps of blackened ruins, and thousands of men worked day and night building new interstellar warships.

  • 1932 R. Cummings Wandl, The Invader in Astounding Stories May 249/1 page image Ray Cummings bibliography

    The Earth warship went back to its squadron and the Wandl vessel rejoined its fellows.

  • 1934 E. E. Smith Triplanetary in Amazing Stories Jan. 30/2 page image Edward E. Smith bibliography

    She was performing certain routine tasks—charting meteorites, watching for derelicts and other obstructions to navigation, checking in constantly with all scheduled space-ships in case of need, and so on—but primarily she was a warship. She was a mighty engine of destruction.

  • 1966 R. A. Heinlein Moon is a Harsh Mistress in Worlds of If Apr. 150/1 page image Robert A. Heinlein bibliography

    Repeating news while warning everybody that battle was not over, a warship would be back in our sky any moment—be ready for anything.

  • 1983 Starburst Magazine July 25/1 page image

    The rebels plot climactic moves against Darth Vader’s evil imperialists—by bringing all the rebel warship fleet together in one single, stunning armada.

  • 1994 A. Jablokov Summer & Ice in Asimov’s Science Fiction May 23 page image Alexander Jablokov

    They had traced the approaching warship as it decelerated from translight speed.

  • 2016 L. M. Bujold Gentleman Jole & the Red Queen xiii. 253 page image Lois McMaster Bujold bibliography

    He stared around one last time at the creaky old warship as they all started to make their way to the flex tubes.


Research requirements

antedating 1898

Earliest cite

G. P. Serviss

Research History
Suggested by Simon Koppel.

Last modified 2021-04-13 23:30:59
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.