dirtside adv.
on or to the surface of a planet (as opposed to in space)
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1953
Robert A. Heinlein
If you mess it up, I'll leave you dirtside and raise without you. Let me see you walk again.
Starman Jones 64
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1953
Robert A. Heinlein
He went dirtside with Sam, dressed in his best and filled with curiosity.
Starman Jones (1975) x. 102
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1956
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.
Double Star in Astounding Science Fiction Feb. 10/1
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1956
Robert A. Heinlein
But somehow without its ever showing we were better chaperoned than is usual back dirtside.
Time for Stars x. 102
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1986
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.
Heart of Comet 90
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1987
Chris Claremont
People who couldn’t cut life dirtside and fled to space the way men used to join the French Foreign Legion?
FirstFlight iii. 37
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1987
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.
FirstFlight iii. 34
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1987
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.
FirstFlight iii. 33
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1993
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.
Assemblers of Infinity i. 12
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1993
It’s just that everyone’s dirtside and there’s no one to stand watch during mealtime.
Kruton Interface ii. 20
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1994
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.
Mirror Dance i. 19
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1996
David Weber
At least she wasn’t forced to spend much time dirtside.
Honor Among Enemies xxix. 381
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2002
David Weber
And can we really afford to have you sitting in a dirtside office as First Lord instead of in a fleet command?
War of Honor lxix. 852
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2003
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?
Gate Between Hope and Glory in S. Lee & S. Miller Low Port 47
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2006
S. M. Stirling
I know three months in zero-G makes you feel like a boiled noodle when you get back dirtside.
Sky People i. 21,
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
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