shapechanging adj.

pertaining to the act of or ability to shapechange; that shapechanges

  • 1621 G. Sandys tr. Ovid First Five Books of Metamorphosis ii. 29

    Blew Gods the billowes crown’d, Shape-changing Proteus, Triton shrill.

  • 1951 L. S. de Camp Book Reviews in Astounding Science Fiction 151/1 page image L. Sprague de Camp

    The early settlers find a few surviving Martians—fragile humanoid creatures with a shape[-]changing power they sometimes use against Earthmen.

  • 1965 F. Leiber Monsters & Monster-Lovers in Fantastic Mar. 126/1 Fritz Leiber

    But supernatural terror is thin fare for people fearing a more material knock at the door and a death that drops from the air shrieking in steel-cased bombs rather than fluttering on the wings of a shape-changing bat.

  • 1969 M. Z. Bradley Brass Dragon (1980) viii. 139 Marion Zimmer Bradley bibliography

    There are other shape-changing races, some of them less human in appearance than the dikri.

  • 1982 C. Yoke From Alienation to Personal Triumph in T. Staicar Feminine Eye (1982) ix. 117

    Events again force her to rely on alienated individuals: Hywel, her husband…and Tam, the shape-changing, alien, xenobiologist.

  • 1989 S. Sucharitkul Moon Dance iii. x. 395 S. P. Somtow

    It was the song of one who wants to die, who awaits the coming of the shape-changing wolf.

  • 1990 A. McCaffrey & J. L. Nye Death of Sleep (1992) 218 Anne McCaffrey Jody Lynn Nye bibliography

    The receptionist, who Lunzie suspected was a shapechanging Weft because of the utter perfection of her human form, impassively checked Lunzie’s credit code.

  • 1991 Locus Sept. 29/2

    The tale is engrossing, particular the bits about a human orphan being raised by dragons. The strong mix of wildly varying characters, particularly the heroine’s shapechanging stepbrother-dragon, adds a distinct charm.

  • 2008 C. de Lint Books To Look For in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction May 26/2 page image Charles de Lint

    Mercy, while she has a career as a car mechanic, is also a shapechanging coyote.


Research requirements

antedating 1621

Earliest cite

G. Sandys 'Ovid's Metamorphoses'

Research History
Fred Galvin submitted a 1965 cite from a guest editorial in Fantastic magazine "Monster Lovers" by Fritz Leiber.

Last modified 2022-02-01 20:20:57
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.