mindlink n.

a telepathic connection between people; cf. mind-meld n.

Paranormal

  • 1954 J. F. Burke Censors in Authentic Science Fiction Jan. 105 page image John Burke bibliography

    Already the mind link was breaking.

  • 1970 K. Laumer Seeds of Gonyl in Worlds of If Nov. 139/1 page image Keith Laumer bibliography

    Riane must have aged and died long, long ago. His family would have grown to adulthood while he aged not at all. In the end it would have been necessary for him to ‘die’ or to disappear, to be believed dead, never to reappear. But he could have maintained knowledge of his descendants. He could have seen to your care and established a mind[-]link with you in infancy, before the pattern of acculturation made such contact impossible

  • 1973 C. G. Cobb Moonacy in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Dec. 123/2 page image C. G. Cobb bibliography

    Seems like what’s-his-name suggested they go for a moonlight ride, and Gloriana told Aurora by mind link that she was doing it to get him out of the house.

  • 1976 S. Dorman Them & Us & All in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Apr. 69/2 page image Sonya Dorman bibliography

    It was the whispered ritual beginning of their mindlink…. At first, Eddie and Martha had been too scared to join, but Billy and his brother had been mindlinking since they were babies, and once Eddie and Martha had found courage enough to join, and discovered how beautiful and free it felt, there was no stopping.

  • 1982 P. C. Hodgell Godstalk vi. 100

    She was still very wet and fast becoming bitterly cold in Tai-tastigon’s sudden twilight with the cub a shaking morsel of ice against her right breast. The mind link she had shared with it in that moment of crisis no longer seemed to exist, although the beast clung to her as tightly as before, its small claws pricking her through her shirt

  • 1989 J. M. Dillard Lost Years x. 226 J. M. Dillard

    She would not accept the margin of privacy that other mind-links allowed.

  • 2003 C. Feehan Dark Symphony vi. 90 page image Christine Feehan bibliography

    Yes, I can aid you to see through my eyes, but it wouldn’t be permanent. You would see what I see through our mind link. As long as I was with you, sharing my eyes, you could see.

  • 2015 R. A. Lovett Brain Hacking in Analog Science Fiction & Fact Nov. 32/1

    Spock splays his fingers across the head of the person he wants to merge with, seeking just the right places in which to make optimum contact for his mind link.


Research requirements

antedating 1954

Earliest cite

J. F. Burke, in Authentic Science Fiction

Research History
Douglas Winston submitted a cite for the form "mind link" from a 1983 reprint of P.C. Hodgell's 1982 "God Stalk".
Douglas Winston submitted a 1970 cite for the form "mind link" from Keith Laumer's "The House in November"; Jesse Sheidlower verified it in its original appearance in Worlds of If in November 1969.
Jesse Sheidlower submitted a 1954 cite from John Burke in Authentic Science Fiction.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2003 cite from Christine Feehan.

Added to the OED in September 2002 with an earliest known cite from 1985. Entry updated in December 2003 with a new earliest date of 1970. Entry updated in 2021 with the 1954 Burke cite.

Last modified 2022-08-29 11:16:36
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.