glassite n.

a strong transparent synthetic material; an artificial substitute for glass

  • 1930 R. Cummings Brigands of Moon in Astounding Stories of Super-Science Mar. 314/2 page image Ray Cummings bibliography

    The dome roof, with the glassite windows rolled back now, rose in a mound-peak to cover this highest middle portion of the vessel.

  • 1934 F. K. Kelly Famine on Mars in Astounding Stories Sept. 72/1 page image Frank K. Kelly bibliography

    I was hemmed in on all sides by panels of glassite so perfectly transparent from within as to give the impression that there was nothing, nothing at all, between me and the aching emptiness of the void; through the thick walls of the runway the stars quivered like a million small bright fires, and the sky loomed around and above and below me as an endless pall of heavy black smoke.

  • 1936 A. L. Zagat Lanson Screen in Thrilling Wonder Stories Dec. 50/2

    He crossed the room slowly, and looked out through the glassite-covered aperture in the south wall.

  • 1946 Astounding Science Fiction Dec. 24/1

    A weapon of some sort. Pointing it toward the window, he pressed the stud set in its butt. There was a sharp, hard crack, but no recoil. A perfect disk of glassite vanished from the center of the window.

  • 1946 Astounding Science Fiction Dec. 83/1

    β€˜It’s good to be back here again.’ Dave said when he had thrown back his glassite helmet.

  • 1946 β€˜T. Herrick’ Coffin Cargo in Planet Comics Nov. 32/2

    But his still, white face in the glassite mask, had played havoc with nerves already raw.

  • 1986 K. Kurtz Legacy of Lehr i. 15 page image Katherine Kurtz bibliography

    From the other side of a glassite wall behind him, the four Lehr cats glowered in their cages, their jaws parting periodically in what would be ear-splitting screams without the insulation of the wall.

  • 1988 I. McDonald Desolation Road (2001) xxi. 112 Ian McDonald

    Time slowed in a jungle of scales and arpeggios: there was no time, the stars froze in their arcing paths, tracing slow silver snail tracks across the glassite cap-dome.

  • 2007 β€˜C. Alexa’ Flying Solo in Push of Sky 261 page image Camille Alexa bibliography

    Remember when the fashion was to have sporadic transparent wall programming [...] so you could be walking to the bathroom and suddenly the wall would completely visually dissolve to your right? Or you’d be making dinner, and the glassite would suddenly become so clear right in front of you it was like the sink dangled off the lip of a cliff and you were about to plummet over the edge, glass of milk in one hand and dishtowel in the other? It was absolutely vomitous.


Research requirements

antedating 1930

Earliest cite

Ray Cummings, "Brigands of the Moon"

Research History
Fred Galvin submitted a 1948 cite from Murray Leinster's "Space-Can".
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1959 reprint of Leigh Brackett's 1944 "Terror Out of Space".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1949 cite from Arthur C. Clarke's "The Lion of Comarre".
Mike Christie submitted a 1946 cite from Eric Frank Russell's "Metamorphosite".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1934 cite from Frank K. Kelly's "Famine on Mars".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1936 cite from Arthur Leo Zagat's "The Lanson Screen".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1936 cite from Gabriel Wilson's "Earth-Venus 12".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1946 cite from Thornecliffe Herrick's "Coffin Cargo".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1946 cite from Ray Bradbury's "Rocket Summer".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1956 cite from Milton Lesser's "Meet Miss Solar System".
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1975 reprint of the 1933 story "Into the Meteorite Orbit" by Frank K. Kelly
Fred Galvin submitted a 1931 cite from Edmond Hamilton's "Sargasso of Space"
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a Project Gutenberg etext of of "Brigands of the Moon", by Ray Cummings; Jesse Sheidlower verified this in the original publication (Astounding Stories of Super-Science, March 1930).
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 1986 cite from Katherine Kurtz.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2007 cite from Camille Alexa.

Last modified 2021-10-14 17:58:38
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.