| Definition | force field |
| OED requirements | antedating 1939 |
| Earliest cite | Frank Belknap Long, The Dweller in Outer Darkness |
| Comment | Jeff Prucher submitted a 1939 cite from Frank Belknap Long's "The Dweller in Outer Darkness". Mike Christie submitted a 1948 cite from Rene Lafayette's "The Great Air Monopoly". Michael Dolbear submitted a cite from a 1995 reprint of Lois McMaster Bujold's 1994 "Mirror Dance". Katrina Campbell submitted a cite from a 1985 reprint of Richard Meredith's "We All Died At Breakaway Station". Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a reprint of Eric Frank Russell's "Dear Devil"; Mike Christie verified it in the 1950 first magazine appearance. Douglas Winston submitted cites from a 1976 reprint of John W. Campbell's"The Last Evolution". We would like to verify these in the first publication (Amazing Stories, August 1932) |
| Last modified | 6 July, 2008 |
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| 1939 F. B. Long Dweller in Outer Darkness in Thrilling Wonder Stories Aug. 68/2 | The blast tubes in his hands were trained on me, but I knew I'd be safe enough and that Helen Torrey and Miles would remain unscathed. The refracting belts had built up an invisible force-screen about them. |
| 1960 P. Anderson High Crusade (1982) viii. 48 | Soon the Wersgorix landed many ships in a circular formation ‥ to form a cap walled by the eerie faint shimmer of a force screen, picketed by mobile bombards, and roofed by hovering warcraft. |