dirtside adv.

on or to the surface of a planet (as opposed to in space)

  • 1953 R. A. Heinlein Starman Jones 64 Robert A. Heinlein

    If you mess it up, I'll leave you dirtside and raise without you. Let me see you walk again.

  • 1953 R. A. Heinlein Starman Jones (1975) x. 102 Robert A. Heinlein

    He went dirtside with Sam, dressed in his best and filled with curiosity.

  • 1956 R. A. Heinlein Double Star in Astounding Science Fiction Feb. 10/1 page image Robert A. Heinlein

    If a man walks in dressed like a hick and acting as if he owned the place, he’s a spaceman. It is a logical necessity. His profession makes him feel like boss of all creation; when he sets foot dirtside he is slumming among the peasants.

  • 1956 R. A. Heinlein Time for Stars x. 102 Robert A. Heinlein

    But somehow without its ever showing we were better chaperoned than is usual back dirtside.

  • 1986 D. Brin & G. Benford Heart of Comet 90 David Brin Gregory Benford bibliography

    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.

  • 1987 C. Claremont FirstFlight iii. 37 Chris Claremont

    People who couldn’t cut life dirtside and fled to space the way men used to join the French Foreign Legion?

  • 1987 C. Claremont FirstFlight iii. 34 Chris Claremont

    There were three complete sets of spares, but since there was time they decided to grab the new unit from dirtside storage and took the shuttle down, leaving Nicole the only one aboard.

  • 1987 C. Claremont FirstFlight iii. 33 Chris Claremont

    That same week, the Mission Specialists began loading and stowing their gear, the crew spending as much time aboard the spacecraft as dirtside at DaVinci.

  • 1993 D. Beason & K. J. Anderson Assemblers of Infinity i. 12 Kevin J. Anderson Doug Beason bibliography

    If the wizards back dirtside keep their part of the bargain, we could have a working fusion plant by early next year.

  • 1993 J. DeChancie Kruton Interface ii. 20

    It’s just that everyone’s dirtside and there’s no one to stand watch during mealtime.

  • 1994 L. M. Bujold Mirror Dance i. 19 Lois McMaster Bujold

    The third crate, smaller than the second, proved to contain a set of half-armor, lacking built-in weapons and not meant for space, but rather for dirtside combat under normal or near-normal pressure, temperature, and atmospheric conditions.

  • 1996 D. Weber Honor Among Enemies xxix. 381 David Weber

    At least she wasn’t forced to spend much time dirtside.

  • 2002 D. Weber War of Honor lxix. 852 David Weber

    And can we really afford to have you sitting in a dirtside office as First Lord instead of in a fleet command?

  • 2003 H. Phillips Gate Between Hope and Glory in S. Lee & S. Miller Low Port 47

    You're afraid that if the bosses, who already think your big brother is a unionizer, find him with unauthorized personnel they maybe won’t bother with a shuttle when they send him dirtside, yeah?

  • 2006 S. M. Stirling Sky People i. 21, S. M. Stirling

    I know three months in zero-G makes you feel like a boiled noodle when you get back dirtside.


Research requirements

antedating 1953

Earliest cite

Robert Heinlein, "Starman Jones"

Research History
Mike Christie submitted a cite from a 1980 edition of Heinlein's Starman Jones, which was verified by John Doyle in the 1953 first edition.
Brian Hopper submitted a different cite from the 1953 first edition.
Douglas Winston submitted a 2001 cite from David Gerrold's "Bouncing Off the Moon".
Douglas Winston submitted a 2002 cite from Tanya Huff's "The Better Part of Valor".
Douglas Winston submitted a 1987 cite from Chris Claremont's "First Flight".
Michael Dolbear submitted a 1995 cite from a reprint of Lois McMaster Bujold's "Mirror Dance".
Michael Dolbear submitted a 2002 cite from David Weber's "War of Honor".
Douglas Winston submitted a cite from an undated Ace books reprint of Robert A. Heinlein's "Time for the Stars".
Douglas Winston submitted a 1993 cite from John DeChancie's "The Kruton Interface".
Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a 1985 reprint of Andre Norton's "Sargasso of Space"; we would like to verify this in the 1955 first edition.
Enoch Forrester submitted a cite from a 1987 reprint of Greg Benford and David Brin's 1986 "Heart of the Comet".
Douglas Winston submitted a 2003 cite from Holly Phillips' "The Gate Between Hope and Glory".
Douglas Winston submitted cites from a reprint of Heinlein's 1957 "Double Star".
Michael Dolbear submitted cites from a 1997 reprint of David Weber's 1996 "Honor Among Enemies".

Last modified 2021-01-05 18:19:37
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.