Full record for pressor n.

Definition =pressor beam
OED requirements antedating 1940
Earliest cite E. E. Smith 'Gray Lensman'
Comment Courtenay Footman submitted a cite for the form "pressor" from a 1966 reprint of E.E. Smith's "Gray Lensman"; Mike Christie then confirmed it in the original magazine appearance in 1940.
Malcolm Farmer submitted a cite for the form "presser" from a 2000 reprint of David Weber's 1999 "The Hard Way Home".
Malcolm Farmer submitted a 1974 cite from Joe Haldeman's "This Best of All Possible Worlds".
Ralf Brown located and Daniel Frankham submitted a 1971 cite from Robert Silverberg's "In Entropy's Jaws".
Ralf Brown located a cite in an electronic text of Alan Dean Foster's 1973 "Bloodhype", and David Dyer-Bennet verified it in a paper copy.
Fred Galvin submitted a 1942 cite from "Abyss of Darkness", by Ross Rocklynne [pseudonym of Ross L. Rocklin]
Last modified 23 July, 2009

Citations for pressor n.

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1931 Amazing Stories Sept. 560/1 Onward and upward flashed the gigantic duplex cone, its entire whirling mass laced and latticed together—into one mammoth unit by green tractor beams and red pressors.
1942 ‘R. Rocklynne’ Abyss of Darkness in Astonishing Stories Dec. 95/2 A half-dozen rays, tractors and pressors both, stopped his protests, tore at him, pushed him, whirled him, until great foaming puffs of brilliance were erupted from his over-size body. In a fury, he lashed out with his own rays, but they were clumsily, ineffectively guided.
1973 A. D. Foster Bloodhype 48 The two shuttles slowed and maneuvered from side to side; a little lower and they were positioned directly over the shaft. A lift pressor at the bottom of the shaft gently locked in and the two shuttles released their hold. A tricky operation. The idea was that the two shuttles would release their hold at the same moment the main pressor took over. Unless timing and power were precisely matched, a catastrophic misalignment of forces could occur.
1974 J. W. Haldeman in Analog Sci. Fiction/Sci. Fact Nov. 145/2 They have to turn off the pressor field for a split second every time a ship lands; otherwise it would just ricochet off over the ocean.
1974 J. W. Haldeman in Analog Sci. Fiction/Sci. Fact Nov. 145/2 We both began swimming for an hour or so every clear day, in the calm, pressor-guarded water off the beach.