Full record for solar system n.
| Definition | a system of one or more stars, possibly with accompanying planets |
| OED requirements | antedating 1887 |
| Earliest cite | M. Corelli 'A Romance of Two Worlds' |
| Comment | Ralf Brown located and Steven Silver submitted a 1991 cite from George Zebrowski's "Stranger Suns". Ralf Brown located and Douglas Winston submitted a 1977 cite from George Zebrowski's "Ashes and Stars". Mike Christie submitted a 1944 cite from Hal Clement's "Trojan Fall". Mike Christie submitted a 1946 cite from Murray Leinster's "The Plants". Mike Christie submitted a 1941 cite from Raymond Z. Galllun's "Meteor Legacy". Ralf Brown identified and Lawrence Watt-Evans located a cite from the 1887 second edition of Marie Corelli's 1886 "A Romance of Two Worlds" (The OED definition refers only to our own solar system.) |
| Last modified | 6 July, 2008 |
Citations for solar system n.
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| 1886 M. Corelli Romance of Two Worlds 192 | Granting human electricity to exist, why should not a communication be established, like a sort of spiritual Atlantic cable, between man and the beings of other spheres and other solar systems? |
| 1935 ‘M. Leinster’ Proxima Centauri in Astounding Stories Mar. 21/2 | He had piloted the Adastra to its first contact with the civilization of another solar system. |
| 1941 R. Z. Gallun Meteor Legacy in Astounding Sci.-Fiction Aug. 39/2 | Must be a piece of some unknown planet, that maybe belonged to some unknown solar system, way out among the stars. |
| 1944 ‘H. Clement’ Trojan Fall in Astounding Sci.-Fiction June 57/2 | Admittedly, he was used to interplanetary rather than interstellar flight; but it is almost as easy to get lost inside solar systems as between them. |
| 1946 ‘M. Leinster’ Plants in Astounding Sci.-Fiction Jan. 142/1 | Slade left the Copernicus with fuel for at most seven light-years. It's fifty to the nearest inhabited solar system. |
| 1977 G. Zebrowski Ashes & Stars 109 | Gorgias touched the map retrieval plate and the screen lit up, revealing a solar system of twelve planets. |
| 1991 G. Zebrowski Stranger Suns 38 | ‘We're the first human beings to reach another solar system,’ Lena said with awe. |
| 1995 U. K. Le Guin Four Ways to Forgiveness 211 | The Werel-Yeowe solar system consists of 16 planets orbiting a yellow-white star (RK-tamo-5544-34). |
| 2002 J. Haldeman From ‘Guardian’ in Conjunctions 39 177 | No place in your solar system, other than Earth, has life that's at all interesting. |