gyrobus n.

a bus powered by a gyroscopic flywheel; (also) a flying bus

Vehicles

  • 1933 N. Schachner & R. Lacher Memory of Atoms in Wonder Stories Jan. 618/2 page image Nat Schachner R. Lacher bibliography

    A huge gyro-bus, completely enclosed, dull black in color, oblong, sinister, poised on its monorail in front of a great terraced Residential Apartment.

  • 1936 ‘J. Beynon’ Planet Plane v. 40 John Wyndham

    Machines of every kind from the dainty flipabout to the massive gyrobus…started to float in from each quarter.

  • 1950 Amazing Stories Dec. 63 (title) page image

    Gyro-bus.

  • 1984 M. Bishop With a Little Help from Her Friends in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Feb. 7/2 page image Michael Bishop bibliography

    The boarded an orange gyrobus in the parking lot and departed the hatchery.

  • 2007 A. M. Steele Galaxy Blues in Asimov’s Science Fiction Dec. 101 page image Allen Steele

    We're to pack up and grab the noon gyrobus to New Brighton.

Research requirements

antedating 1933
Research History
The OED entry has a single cite from John Wyndham's Planet Plane.
Imran Ghory submitted a 1950 cite from "Gyro-bus", a nonfiction piece by Milton Matthew.
Jesse Sheidlower submitted a 1933 cite from Nathan Schachner in Wonder Stories, apparently referring to a gyroscopically powered vehicle.

Last modified 2020-12-16 04:08:47
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.