a (typically) hand-held device that emits rays, esp. destructive or harmful ones
Artist’s conception of the details of the monster dirigible, equipped with landing deck, ‘ray’ guns, radio room and extensive quarters for the crew.
Soon they saw a hand reaching out with a ray gun; then another hand with a different ray gun, from behind the silent engine; a sudden crash of metal, a groan and quiet.
‘I wish I had a ray-gun!’ gritted out Duvelskoe, shaking his fist at the uncanny things outside.
The two-legged monster dissolved, writhing, in the beam of a ray gun.
Let’s see yarns about vampires, ghouls, werewolves, and other assorted spooks, as well as ray guns, six-headed Martians, galactic wars, and warp drives.
It belonged to the type that frequents such places, those lawless men who ride the spaceways and live by the rule of the ray-gun, recklessly, warily outside the Patrol’s jurisdiction.
Like some unseen max metal gunfighter laughing as he fired his rayguns at her feet for the evil pleasure of making her dance.
The Air Force guys never quite figured out the trick of making an effective raygun.
Worlds are colonized, civilisations fall, rayguns are used—but…Alastair Reynolds is playing a more complex game… He is taking the stuff of space opera and remaking it into something new—something that doesn’t eschew the pulpish romanticism of space opera’s roots, but seeks to transform it into romanticism better suited to modern science fiction.
antedating 1923
(Earliest cite in the OED: originally 1931; later updated to 1923)
Last modified 2020-12-16 04:08:47
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