time traveller n.

one who travels through time n.

SF Encyclopedia


Time Travel

  • 1894 H. G. Wells Refinement of Humanity in National Observer 21 Apr. 582/1 page image H. G. Wells bibliography

    ‘But,’ said the medical man, ‘even if man in the future no longer need [sic] strength to fight against other men or beasts, he will still need a sufficient physique to resist disease.’ ‘That is the queer thing,’ said the Time Traveller; ‘there was no disease. Somewhen between now and then your sanitary science must have won the battle it is beginning now. Bacteria, or at least all disease causing bacteria, must have been exterminated. I can explain it in no other way.[’]

  • 1894 H. G. Wells Sunset of Mankind in National Observer 28 Apr. 608/1 page image H. G. Wells

    ‘There,’ said the Time Traveller, ‘I am unable to give you an explanation. All I know is that the climate was very much warmer than it is now.’

  • 1895 H. G. Wells Time Machine i. 1 H. G. Wells

    The Time Traveller (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us.

  • 1927 F. Flagg Machine Man of Ardathia in Amazing Stories Nov. 801/1 page image Francis Flagg bibliography

    You must realize that a time traveler runs certain hazards. At any place on the road, he may materialize inside of a solid of some sort. In that case, he is almost certain to be blown up or otherwise destroyed.

  • 1933 H. Gernsback in Wonder Stories Feb. 734/3 page image Hugo Gernsback

    It is now up to the professional time travellers to defend their devices for exploring the past and the future.

  • 1943 T. Alden Two-Timing Man in Thrilling Wonder Stories June 91/2 page image Thaedra Alden bibliography

    The Supreme Council has ruled that all Time Travellers must be sent back immediately and their particular method of passage through Time closed from this end.

  • 1951 Galaxy May 160 (advt.) page image

    Into this world goes the Time Traveler, a man of our era—a barbaric alien in comparison with the possessors of a science vastly superior to ours.

  • 1966 D. Plachta Man From When in Worlds of If 78/1 page image Dannie Plachta bibliography

    ‘You’re a spaceman,’ Smith decided. ‘I only came a few hundred miles, shrugged the stranger modestly. ‘Mostly, I’m a time traveller.’

  • 1974 P. K. Dick Little Something for Us Tempunauts in We Can Remember It for you Wholesale (1994) 336 Philip K. Dick

    What in your mind is the greatest terror facing a time traveler? That there will be an implosion due to coincidence on reentry?

  • 1974 J. Brunner Times Without Number (1981) 10 John Brunner

    It wasn’t only the embarrassing experience of being shown off around the hall by her—as it were, a real live time-traveller, exclamation point, in the same tone of voice as one would say, ‘A real live tiger’.

  • 1984 M. Bishop Viewpoint in Asimov’s Science Fiction Apr. 52/1 Michael Bishop

    ‘The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock at the door….’ A traditional SF writer would conclude this story by opening that door to reveal 1) the last woman on Earth, or 2) a time traveler from the past, or [etc.].

  • 2001 Dreamwatch Oct. 85/1

    As any self-respecting time traveller will confirm, going backwards in time to change history is a dodgy business, fraught with the possibility of temporal anomalies, rips in the space/time continuum, etc.

  • 2013 S. Williams Poet of Mars in Asimov’s Science Fiction Jan. 2/1 page image Sheila Williams bibliography

    My father liked some Bradbury. He’d read ‘A Sound of Thunder’ to me and we’d spend a few hours discussing the consequences of a time traveler stepping on a butterfly, but he didn’t care for stories about ordinary life or fiction that held a surreal edge.


Research requirements

antedating 1894

Earliest cite

H.G. Wells, "The Refinement of Humanity" (i.e. the first magazine appearance of 'The Time Machine')

Research History
Lloyd Kilford examined "The Chronic Argonauts", by H.G. Wells (an early (1888) version of "The Time Machine"), and determined that it does not contain the term "time traveller".

Last modified 2021-10-28 20:37:29
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.