force beam n.

= tractor beam n.; = pressor beam n.

  • 1929 E. Hamilton Other Side of the Moon in Amazing Stories Quarterly Fall 522/2 page image Edmond Hamilton bibliography

    I think it will be soon that the invasion will come, that their great cylinders will flash down their mighty force-beam to earth.

  • 1930 E. Hamilton Comet-Drivers in Weird Tales Feb. 175/2 page image Edmond Hamilton bibliography

    If we can reach the great oncoming comet, can penetrate through its deadly coma to the solid nucleus at its center, can deflect that nucleus with our force-beams before the twelfth day ends, we will have turned the great comet aside, will have saved the galaxy itself from death.

  • 1939 C. L. Moore Greater Than Gods in Astounding Science-Fiction July 159/2 C. L. Moore

    William Cory, there seems to be a question in your mind as to whether we could reach you with our weapons. Let me assure you that the force-beam which connects us can carry more than sight and sound into your world! I hope I shan’t have to demonstrate that.

  • 1964 H. Harrison Final Encounter in Galaxy Magazine Apr. 146/1 Harry Harrison

    There was no mechanical propulsion visible, but the sphere came swooping up towards their ship where it swung in orbit above the golden planetoid. The sphere stopped, just outside the ship and clearly visible from the viewports, bobbing in a small arc. ‘Some sort of force beam,’ Hautamaki said, ‘though nothing registers on the hull instruments.’

  • 1974 I. Asimov Last Question in Nine Tomorrows 197 Isaac Asimov

    It was on a little world of its own, a spider webbing of force-beams holding the matter within which surges of sub-mesons took the place of the old clumsy molecular valves.

  • 1998 Wired Mar. 190

    Incredibly, this text described a ‘gravity generator’™ that would create a force beam in any desired direction.

  • 2014 D. Abnett Steal the Galaxy! xxxi. 241 page image Dan Abnett bibliography

    Crusher is an Imperial Guardsman who, because of latent ability and cybernetic augmentation, channels powers via an ‘exo-link.’ Flight, super-mortal strength, invulnerability, hyper-dense gravitic force beams—he can call up any power through his link, but only one at a time. Right now, he is downloading force beam. His hands sizzle. He could take me out with one shot.


Research requirements

antedating 1930

Earliest cite

Edmond Hamilton, 'The Universe Wreckers'

Research History
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1983 reprint of C. L. Moore's 1939 "Greater Than Gods"; Mike Christie verified it in the first publication.
Fred Galvin submitted a 1964 cite from Harry Harrison's "Final Encounter".
Fred Galvin submitted a July 1930 cite from Edmond Hamilton's "The Universe Wreckers".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1953 cite from Richard S. Shaver's "Beyond the Barrier".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1951 cite from H. B. Fyfe's "Thinking Machine".
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1974 reprint of Isaac Asimov's 1956 "The Last Question".
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1960s reprint of Edmond Hamilton's "The Comet Drivers"; Jesse Sheidlower verified this in its original publication (Weird Tales, February 1930).
Jesse Sheidlower submitted a 1929 cite from Edmond Hamiton in Amazing Stories Quarterly.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2014 cite from Dan Abnett.

Last modified 2021-10-13 22:22:09
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.