Full record for avian adj.

Definition	bird-like
OED requirements	antedating 1931
Earliest cite	Olaf Stapledon, "Last and First Men"
Comment	Katrina Campbell submitted a cite from a 1990 reprint of Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee's 1989 "Rama II"; Mike Christie verified the cite in a 1989 edition. Katrina Campbell submitted a cite from a 1992 reprint of Anne McCaffrey and Jody Lynn Nye's 1990 "The Death of Sleep". Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a reprint of Poul Anderson's "Trader Team"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1965 first magazine appearance. Katrina Campbell submitted a cite from a 1985 reprint of David Drake's 1979 "Hammer's Slammers". Douglas Winston submitted a 1999 cite from Diane Duane's "Storm at Eldala". Douglas Winston submitted a 1990 cite from Todd Johnson's "The Archimedes Effect". Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a 1970 reprint of Poul Anderson's "After Doomsday". Fred Galvin verified this in the 1961 serialization in Galaxy. Fred Galvin submitted a 1948 cite from William Tenn's "The Ionian Cycle". Fred Galvin submitted a 1942 cite from Henry Kuttner's "The Crystal Circe" Fred Galvin submitted a 1931 cite from W. Olaf Stapledon's "Last and First Men": we would like to verify this in its 1930 first edition.
Last modified	5 August, 2009

Citations for avian adj.

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1979 D. Drake Hammer's Slammers (1985) 59	Their sharp-edged faces, scale-dusted but more avian than reptile, stared enraptured at one of their number who hung in the air.
1990 A. McCaffrey & J. L. Nye Death of Sleep (1992) 353	We've seen avian nests but they're always near water, preferably large lakes or rivers.
1999 M. J. Friedman My Brother's Keeper iii. ix. 116	Is nacelles extended like the wings of some monstrous avian predator.
1999 D. Duane Storm at Eldala 48	Long, graceful, translucent creatures, gossamer-thin, like ribbons of shimmering air, they excited some brief interest. Though avian, they were very unlike other avian species so far discovered. They spent their whole lives in the air, subsisting on airborne algae and plankton native to the high mists of the Rivendale mountain chains.