teleport n. 1

a device for conveying people or things instantaneously from one place to another, esp. a machine which breaks matter down into its constituent particles or converts it into energy, information, etc., and transmits it in this form to another location where it is reconstituted; teleporter n. 2

FTL

  • 1878 Times of India 6 Mar. 3/3

    The teleport:…an apparatus by which man can be reduced to infinitessimal atoms, transmitted through the wire, and reproduced safe and sound at the other end!

  • 1943 N. S. Bond Phantom Out of Time in Planet Stories Fall 96/1 page image Nelson S. Bond bibliography

    I came here through the medium of the greatest discovery ever made by man. The teleport, a machine invented by Robert Townsend…. It disassembles the atoms of any body placed in its transmitting chamber, and reconstructs that body at a destination selected by a setting of its dials.

  • 1944 H. Walton Boomerang in Astounding Science Fiction June 119/2 page image Harry Walton bibliography

    Of course, a teleport paid for itself in a place like this, which most pillars of society would rather not be seen coming to or leaving. If you were on the City Enforcement League, like Samuel Sporn, it was especially nice to be able to enter a cubicle in your apartment and step out here with none the wiser.

  • 1945 R. Abernathy Canal Builders in Astounding Science Fiction Jan. 44/1 page image Robert Abernathy bibliography

    When we use the teleport, we travel through a sort of interspace between Earth and Mars, in which the distance is insignificant—infinitesimal, so that for practical purposes we have the planets superimposed.

  • 1952 T. Sturgeon in Galaxy Oct. 58/1 Theodore Sturgeon

    I’ll tell you. I'm the central ganglion of a complex organism which is composed of Baby, a computer; Bonnie and Beanie, teleports; Jane, telekineticist; and myself, telepath and central control.

  • 1980 D. Adams Restaurant at End of Universe (1985) 166 Douglas Adams bibliography

    He tossed a coin into the teleport and jiggled a switch on the lolling control panel. With a crackle and spit of light, the coin vanished. ‘That much of it works,’ said Ford, ‘however, there is no guidance system. A matter transference teleport without guidance programming could put you…well, anywhere.’

  • 1980 D. Broderick Dreaming Dragons (1981) 104

    Hugh told me you were looking for bones when you found the teleport gate.

  • 1983 S. Brust Jhereg Introd. 4

    Slowly, my stomach settled down from the nausea that had hit when I had done the teleport that brought me here.

  • 1984 S. Brust Yendi i. 2

    Lady Teldra let me in as I recovered from the teleport.

  • 1993 F. M. Busby Singularity Project (1994) 24

    ‘The professor stated an analogy; it was printed as a purported factual claim. The real fact is that Dr.Pedicord posits a means of instantaneous transportation.’ ‘A teleport?’ Sure, I read those stories; they're fun. ‘You get in a phone booth in L.A. and dial a number and step out in New York?’ He nodded.

  • 2008 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 9 Sept. b5/3

    The computer in Brundle’s lab that connects the two huge teleports he has invented is a big, old-fashioned thing with knobs, lights and control panels…. He turns to his telepods as a way to consummate the fantasy of liberating himself from his flesh. Stripped naked, Mr. Okulitch enters one telepod in a trance and emerges from the other amid smoke and eerie light.


Research requirements

interdating 1878–1943

Earliest cite

Nelson S. Bond

Research History
Enoch Forrester submitted a cite from a reprint of Clifford Simak's "Time Quarry"; Mike Christie verified the original 1950 magazine appearance.
Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a 1994 reprint of F.M. Busby's 1993 "The Singularity Project".
Enoch Forrester submitted a cite from a 1985 reprint of Douglas Adams' 1980 "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe".
Mike Christie submitted a 1945 cite from Robert Abernathy's "The Canal-Builders".
Mike Christie submitted a 1944 cite from Harry Walton's "Boomerang".
Jesse Sheidlower submitted a 1943 cite from Nelson S. Bond's "Phantom Out of Time".
Ralf Brown located and Daniel Frankham verified a cite from a 1981 reprint of Damien Broderick's 1980 "The Dreaming Dragons".
The OED found an incredibly clear 1878 example in the Times of India; we could like to find pre-1943 evidence from a SF source.

Last modified 2021-01-24 17:44:29
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.