sublight adv.

at a speed below light-speed

SF Encyclopedia


  • 1966 P. Anderson Sun Invisible in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact Apr. 134/1 Poul Anderson bibliography

    They’d also go sublight, and home on the neutrino emission of his power plant.

  • 1969 Amazing Stories Mar. 73/2

    They’ll probably stay sub-light, Bracer thought. Not much point in their going back into star drive now. They know that they can whip us without using any fancy tactics. But would it help us to go FTL?

  • 1991 A. McCaffrey & E. Moon Generation Warriors 153 Anne McCaffrey Elizabeth Moon bibliography

    That’s how emergency calls went out: sublight to the transfer point, which launched the pod, and the pod carried only a standard message, plus its originating transfer code.

  • 1996 D. Weber Honor Among Enemies (1997) 152 David Weber

    They’d made the centuries-long voyage sublight, in cryo, only to discover that the original survey had missed a minor point about their new home’s ecosystem.

  • 2015 S. White Soldiers Out of Time xvi. 120 page image Steve White bibliography

    We’ve detected a ship entering this system and going sublight.


Research requirements

antedating 1966

Earliest cite

P. Anderson 'A Sun Invisible'

Research History
Katrina Campbell submitted a cite from a 1992 reprint of Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon's "Generation Warriors"; Douglas Winston verified the cite in the 1991 first edition.
Katrina Campbell submitted a cite from a reprint of Richard Meredith's "We All Died At Breakaway Station"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1969 first magazine appearance.
Dave Langford submitted a 1966 cite from Poul Anderson's "A Sun Invisible".
Malcolm Farmer submitted a cite from a 1997 reprint of David Weber's 1996 "Honor Among Enemies".
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2015 cite from Steve White.

Last modified 2021-03-09 02:39:28
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.