antigravity adj.
of or relating to something that negates or cancels the effect of gravity
SF Encyclopedia
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1896 Morning Times (Washington, D.C.) 20 Dec. 16/1 (editorial synopsis of In the Deep of Time, by George Parsons Lathrop and Thomas Edison)
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bibliography
Word comes from Mars that one Bronson, who had started for that planet in an anti-gravity machine, has not arrived there, and later that a messenger from Mars is on his way to the earth.
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1910
Insulated gravity simply means overcoming the power that keeps things on earth. I create a vacuum and fill it with anti-gravity ozone and everything inside the space covered by that vacuum goes whizzing into the air, never to come back. Just imagine me insulating gravity over your rocky pasture.
Irad Biglow’s Insulated Gravity in Daily Press 5 May 4 -
1932
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J. M. Walsh
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But the antigravity apparatus will have to be capable of generating a greater repulsive force than is required for ordinary interplanetary conditions.
Vanguard to Neptune in Wonder Stories Quarterly Spring 311/1 -
1939
Two facts I wanted: antigravity units of the cars do not disturb reception.
in Astounding Science Fiction Mar. 26/1 -
1941
Ray Cummings
Twenty years ago, there had been talk that he was working on an anti-gravity principle—the secret of spaceflight…Then apparently he had given it up.
Coming of Giant Germs Apr. 14/1 -
1953
Andre Norton
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How do you get out of here?…Anti-gravity lift.
Star Rangers x. 136 -
1956
Professor Bullfinch, with his constant companion, Dr. Grimes, spent more and more time in the laboratory testing and analyzing the anti-gravity liquid. It became clear that whatever was painted with the liquid resisted gravity and would fly out away from the earth.
Danny Dunn and Anti-Gravity Paint 48 -
1958
The use of bluffonics is particularly effective in stories of the gadget-type, which require explanation of anti-gravity devices, advanced cybernetics, and various paraphernalia associated with the construction of devices employing the use of the fourth dimension.
Glossary of Terms Sept. 108/1 -
1958
He stood less than fifty yards from the patient and with equipment festooning like a Christmas tree—an anti-gravity pack belted round his waist, a tri-di projector locus and viewer strapped to his chest and his shoulders hung with a heavy radio pack
in New Worlds Science Fiction Nov. 27 -
1979
Arthur C. Clarke
At first I thought you had some anti-gravity device—but even I know that’s impossible.
Fountains of Paradise 44 -
1987
David Brin
The Suzerain of Propriety tried to make allowance for such difference as the clucking swarm of fuzzy, rotund clients carried the antigravity perch from the site where the body had lain.
Uplift War 251 -
1993
V. E. Mitchell
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A class-B jamming field renders most of our tractor beams and antigravity lifters inoperative.
Windows on Lost World iv. 39 -
1997
Garth Nix
It appears to be a device that converts some form of radiated power to some other form of energy. An antigravity device perhaps, because it is quite impossible for these things to fly without assistance.
Shade’s Children xiii. 128 -
1999
Michael Jan Friedman
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The engineer gestured and a man-sized duranium container, supported by an antigravity cart, appeared in the chapel’s doorway.
My Brother’s Keeper . i. 9 -
2014
Stephen Coonts
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Great leaps forward in alternative fuels, antigravity and computer technology, solar power, metal fabrication—all these advances in man’s knowledge were leading to new products and improvements in old ones.
Saucer: Savage Planet i. 3 -
2020
Elizabeth Bear
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Rilriltok perched on my shoulder—its personal antigravity device seemed to be working, as it weighed less than my exo—and let me carry it through the crowd, safely raised above the bustle.
Machine x. 146
Research requirements
antedating 1896
Earliest cite
editorial synopsis of George Parsons Lathrop & Thomas A. Edison, "In the Deep of Time"
Research History
Roberto Labanti submitted a 1910 cite for "anti-gravity" from Hugh Pendexter's "Irad Biglow's Insulated Gravity" (Published in a Wisconsin Newspaper in 1910, the story was copyrighted 1909).Fred Galvin submitted a 1958 cite from Jack Lewis's "Glossary of Terms".
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1979 reprint of Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin's 1956 "Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint"
Fred Galvin submitted a 1941 cite from Ray Cummings', "Coming of the Giant Germs"
Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a 2003 reprint of Garth Nix's 1997 "Shade's Children"
Bill Mullins submitted an 1896 cite from an editorial synopsis of "In the Deep of Time" by George Parsons Lathrop in collaboration with Thomas A. Edison; Simon Koppel found an example of a similar synopsis several days earlier.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2020 cite from Elizabeth Bear.
Last modified 2021-04-15 14:55:08
In the compilation of some
entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
in OED.