pressor n.

= pressor beam n.

  • 1931 E. E. Smith Spacehounds of IPC in Amazing Stories Sept. 560/1 page image Edward E. Smith bibliography

    Onward and upward flashed the gigantic duplex cone, its entire whirling mass laced and latticed together—into one mammoth unit by green tractor beams and red pressors.

  • 1940 E. E. Smith in Astounding Science Fiction Jan. 107/2 Edward E. Smith

    ‘Tractors and pressors as assigned—tip him over.’ The intensity of the bombardment did not slacken, but from the maulers to the north there reached out pressors, from those upon the south came tractors; each a beam of terrific power, each backed by all the mass and all the driving force of a veritable flying fortress.

  • 1942 ‘R. Rocklynne’ Abyss of Darkness in Astonishing Stories Dec. 95/2 Ross Rocklynne bibliography

    A half-dozen rays, tractors and pressors both, stopped his protests, tore at him, pushed him, whirled him, until great foaming puffs of brilliance were erupted from his over-size body. In a fury, he lashed out with his own rays, but they were clumsily, ineffectively guided.

  • 1971 R. Silverberg In Entropy's Jaws in R. Hoskins Infinity 2 182 page image Robert Silverberg bibliography

    Place your arms through the stasis loops and your feet in the security platens. When you have done this the pressor fields will automatically be activated and you will be fully insulated against injury during the coming period of turbulence.

  • 1973 A. D. Foster Bloodhype 48 Alan Dean Foster

    The two shuttles slowed and maneuvered from side to side; a little lower and they were positioned directly over the shaft. A lift pressor at the bottom of the shaft gently locked in and the two shuttles released their hold. A tricky operation. The idea was that the two shuttles would release their hold at the same moment the main pressor took over. Unless timing and power were precisely matched, a catastrophic misalignment of forces could occur.

  • 1974 J. W. Haldeman in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact Nov. 143/2 Joe Haldeman

    A powerful pressor field kept out large predators and such insect life as was not necessary for the health of the plants inside.

  • 1974 J. W. Haldeman in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact Nov. 145/2 Joe Haldeman

    We both began swimming for an hour or so every clear day, in the calm, pressor-guarded water off the beach.

  • 1982 J. Milos End Papers in Asimov’s Science Fiction 15 Feb. 51 page image Jonathan Milos bibliography

    The drivership lifted from Earth on pressor thrust.

  • 1994 D. Doyle & J. D. Macdonald By Honor Betray’d iv. ii. 330 page image Debra Doyle James D. Macdonald bibliography

    [S]he watched the Mage battleship grow larger and closer as its magnetic grapnels pulled the freighter in. More beams, tractors and pressors working together, drew the ’Hammer down to rest on blocks inside a huge docking bay.

  • 2000 D. Duane Swordhunt in Rihannsu i. 432 page image Diane Duane bibliography

    Now formal sessions of both Senate and Praetorate were being held elsewhere while workmen labored among the ugly pillars and struts of emergency scaffolding inside the building; and outside, tractor beams and pressors were supplementing the normal stresses which had formerly held the dome unsupported over the chamber. The architects had planned superbly, but they had not anticipated that the Chamber would ever have a starship sitting on its roof.

  • 2008 J. Luceno Millennium Falcon (2009) xxxi. 353 page image James Luceno bibliography

    Jadak’s improvisation had borne results Han was unprepared for. The faulty pressors and jets came back online with enough vigor to seesaw the Falcon’s starboard side down against the turbolift deck. The deck dropped, as well, so far and so forcefully that it tipped past level, nearly launching Jadak from the maintenance nacelle.


Research requirements

postdating 1931

Earliest cite

E. E. Smith, Spacehounds of IPC

Research History
Courtenay Footman submitted a cite for the form "pressor" from a 1966 reprint of E.E. Smith's "Gray Lensman"; Mike Christie then confirmed it in the original magazine appearance in 1940.
Malcolm Farmer submitted a cite for the form "presser" from a 2000 reprint of David Weber's 1999 "The Hard Way Home".
Malcolm Farmer submitted a 1974 cite from Joe Haldeman's "This Best of All Possible Worlds".
Ralf Brown located and Daniel Frankham submitted a 1971 cite from Robert Silverberg's "In Entropy's Jaws".
Ralf Brown located a cite in an electronic text of Alan Dean Foster's 1973 "Bloodhype", and David Dyer-Bennet verified it in a paper copy.
Fred Galvin submitted a 1942 cite from "Abyss of Darkness", by Ross Rocklynne.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 1994 cite from Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 1990 cite from Diane Duane.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2008 cite from James Luceno.

Last modified 2021-12-08 11:40:33
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.