bionic adj.

of or pertaining to bionics; having or being an artificial, esp. electromechanical, device that replaces part of the body; having ordinary human capabilities increased (as if) by the aid of such devices

Science

1941 ‘E. Binder’ Vassals of the Master World in Planet Stories Fall 22/2 page image bibliography
‘Operate? Plastic-surgery?’ The doctor looked puzzled. ‘We use bionic methods.’
1961 Science Digest Nov. 26/2
The bionic machines and synthetically intelligent systems of tomorrow.
1973 S. Dorman Bear Went Over the Mountain in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Aug. 143/1 page image Sonya Dorman bibliography
His brain is now tremendously amplified by the link to the computer. So far, he’s the only human survivor of the applications of our research. We lost the other two to brain damage during the bionic installation phase.
1988 N. Stephenson Zodiac i. 11 Neal Stephenson
I threw myself on the mercy of Esmerelda, a black librarian of somewhere between ninety and a hundred who contained within her bionic hairdo all knowledge, or the ability to find it.
1998 W. Shatner et al. Spectre Prologue 3 bibliography
The fingertips of her natural right hand almost but not quite aligned with the crude bionic structure that served as her left hand.
2015 S. White Soldiers Out of Time xiii. 96 page image Steve White bibliography
The Human Integrity Act’s prohibition of bionic replacement limbs and organs had been one of its most controversial provisions, for they were one of the more defensible forms of man-machine interfacing.

Research requirements

antedating 1941

Earliest cite

"Eando Binder," in Planet Stories

Research History

Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2015 cite from Steve White.

Earliest quotation in OED2 was 1963; improved to 1961 in OED3.

Last modified 2021-03-12 10:57:00
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.