grounder n.

a person who lives on a planet, rather than in space; = groundhog n.

  • [1950 A. E. van Vogt The Shadow Men in Startling Stories Jan. 42/2 page image A. E. van Vogt bibliography

    They were floaters, people who had no home but a house in the sky…. The bitter feeling between the floaters and the grounders, already intense, grew sharper and deadlier with the passing years. Everyone took sides. Some who had been grounders bought floaters and joined the restless throngs in the sky.]

  • 1952 I. Asimov The Martian Way in Galaxy Magazine Nov. 35/2 page image Isaac Asimov bibliography

    They wouldn’t like it. The Grounders, I mean. They’re so used to their own lousy little world, they wouldn’t appreciate what it’s like to float and look down on Saturn.

  • 1974 C. W. Runyon Once There Were Cows in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction July 102/2 page image Charles W. Runyon bibliography

    As I walked, I felt the mass of the planet turning under my feet. It felt good. I guess I was a grounder at heart.

  • 1977 H. C. Petley And Earth So Far Away in Galaxy Magazine Aug. 28/2 page image H. C. Petley bibliography

    The chief was an Earthman engineer. A grounder with limited space experience, he was a deft administrator and organizer.

  • 1979 P. D. Novitski Loser at Solitaire in Fantastic Stories Jan. 98/1 page image Paul David Novitski bibliography

    You spend your life spacing from start to star, all fine and lonesome, just soaking in all that emptiness. And then you hit port just to dig a little joy from us grounders, yeah?

  • 2018 B. Chambers Record of a Spaceborn Few (2019) 117 Becky Chambers bibliography

    Young grounders had made a thing of showing up on the Fleet’s doorstep hoping to find kin or connection or some other such fluff, succeeding at little except treating everyone’s home like a zoo before learning there wasn't any romance in it and heading back to cushier lives where every problem could be answered with creds. [Ibid. 316] Without us out here, the grounders will forget within a few generations. We’ll become just another story, and not one that seems relevant.

  • 2018 B. Chambers Record of a Spaceborn Few (2019) 261 Becky Chambers bibliography

    She was from the Fleet, through and through. She wondered what other facts about grounder life her daughter hadn’t gleaned.

Research requirements

antedating 1952
Research History
Suggested, and the Becky Chambers cites submitted, by Simon Koppel.

Last modified 2024-08-28 18:52:29
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.