spacer n. 1
= spaceman n.; esp. a civilian who travels or works in space
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1937
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‘Private message, sir,’ Grant replied. ‘Seems to be from another spacer.’
Robin Hood of Space in Atom (vol. 1, no. 1) Mar. 6 -
1940
Isaac Asimov
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I've read books about him. He was the greatest spacer there ever was.
Callistan Menace in Astonishing Stories Apr. 71/2
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1942
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Cleve Cartmill
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Why do you think Martians are barred from approaching spacers nearer than five hundred yards? You know they can copy anything once they nose around with their mind tendrils. Let one Martian into the control room of a spacer, and Trading Post’s monopoly is broken.
Some Day We'll Find You in Astounding Science Fiction Dec. 41/1
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1944
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Isaac Asimov
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My grandfather was a blood-poor son-of-a-spacer who died heaving coal at starving wages before the Foundation.
Big & the Little in Astounding Science Fiction Aug. 9/1
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1964
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Hogan Smith
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When spacers first went out from the world they sometimes left the business of the earth and went about their own business. Some of them caused much harm to earth doing this and many harsh restrictions were placed on spacers.
Year of the Earthman in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Oct. 78/1 -
1981
C. J. Cherryh
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The papers came back, plasticized and permanent with Tully’s face staring back from them, species handwritten, classification general spacer, sex male.
Pride of Chanur (1991) vii. 105
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1986
David Brin
Gregory Benford
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Probably too late for me, though. I'll have to go live on Earth to have my babies, and no male spacer will give up the Black to stay dirtside with me.
Heart of Comet 90
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1990
James Tiptree, Jr.
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‘And I think that will end the infection’, I tell him, putting away the universal antibiotic the spacers give us.
Color of Neanderthal Eyes 34
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1992
Peter David
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You can take the man out of space, but you can’t take the spacer out of the man, eh?
Imzadi iv. 28
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1999
Jack L. Chalker
Sharing birth years was an old sport among spacers, although not between them and the groundhogs.
Priam's Lens ii. 17
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2008
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Kristine Kathryn Rusch
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The old spacer’s bar on Longbow Station is the only bar there that doesn’t have a name... To get in, you need one of two special chips…. You get that one if you’re a legitimate spacer, operating or working for a business that requires a pilot’s license.
Room of Lost Souls in Asimov’s Science Fiction Apr.–May 166
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2019
Yoon Ha Lee
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The real action is in the Ghost Sector. According to a drunk spacer who was spilling secrets last night, a lot of ships—even Space Forces battle cruisers—are gathering there, despite its reputation.
Dragon Pearl v. 41
Research requirements
antedating 1937
Earliest cite
Peter Wordley.
Research History
Imran Ghory submitted a cite from a reprint of Isaac Asimov's "Foundation"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1944 first magazine publication.Katrina Campbell submitted a cite from a 1973 reprint of Isaac Asimov's "The Callistan Menace", which Alistair Durie verified in the first publication (Astonishing Stories, April 1940).
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 1937 cite from Peter Wordley.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2019 cite from Yoon Ha Lee.
Earliest cite in OED2: 1955. OED3 now revised to the 1940 Asimov example.
Last modified 2021-03-31 21:43:22
In the compilation of some
entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
in OED.