needle-beam n.
a weapon producing a very narrow beam of energy; the beam produced by such a weapon
Weaponry
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1930
page image
Ray Cummings
bibliography
Miko was bending over him. Miko with a heat-cylinder no longer than a finger. Its needle-beam played upon Snap’s naked chest. I could see the gruesome little trail of smoke rising.
Brigands of the Moon in Astounding Stories of Super-Science Mar. 347/1 -
1936
John W. Campbell, Jr.
Then he went around with an opened ion-gun with a needle beam and poked everything visible with it.
Brain Stealers of Mars in Thrilling Wonder Stories Dec. 27/1
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1936
He had saved the little green man’s life, and from that time on, Omar Klegg had been the one white man who could step foot on the bad-land soil of Venus without the aid of blazing needle-beam gats.
Moon Crystals in Astounding Stories Jan. 34/2 -
1942
Robert A. Heinlein
Anson MacDonald
In fact, he had not noticed that his friend was wearing anything new in the way of weapons—had he arrived unarmed, Monroe-Alpha would have noticed it, naturally, but he was not particularly observant about such matters, and could easily have spent two hours with a man and never notice whether he was wearing a Stokes coagulator or a common needlebeam.
Beyond This Horizon in Astounding Science Fiction Apr. 12/1
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1943
C. L. Moore
Sighing, Juille fired at him around the edge of the screen, her needle beam making the air shriek as it passed.
Judgment Night in Astounding Science Fiction Sept. 137/2
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1943
C. L. Moore
She saw the silver mail burned away across his chest where that fierce needle beam should have bored through flesh and bone.
Judgment Night in Astounding Science Fiction Aug. 47/1
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1945
George O. Smith
With two needle beams trained on his back, he was helpless.
in Astounding Science Fiction Nov. 156/1
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1946
Randall was…in possession of a secret or new needle beam gun.
in Astounding Science Fiction Nov. 40/1
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1970
Larry Niven
Louis clawed the flashlight-laser from his belt, used its green needle beam to free Speaker from his balloons.
Ringworld (1984) 232
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1979
A. E. van Vogt
Silently, Malkins produced a needle-beam projector. Grayson took it, pointed it at his own right temple, and pressed the curved firing pin—as Malkins grabbed at him frantically but too late. The thin, white beam seemed to penetrate Grayson’s heed. It burned a round, black, smoldering hole in the woodwork beyond.
Ersatz Eternal in Lost: Fifty Suns 83
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1995
Alan Dean Foster
Both men drew compact needlers. ‘They're set to stun, and I don’t think she’s faster than a needle beam.’
Mid-Flinx 33
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2004
page image
Steve Perry
Michael Reaves
bibliography
Before he [sc. Jos] could change course, the droid’s right index finger, which was pointed at the stingwort, fired a needle beam of bright red coherent light at it. Without slowing his pace, I-Five carefully moved his finger back and forth, incinerating a one-meter-wide path through the dangerous growth as he passed through it.
Battle Surgeons xxxviii. 289
Research requirements
antedating 1930
Earliest cite
R. Cummings, in Astounding
Research History
Christopher Davis submitted a cite from a reprint of George O. Smith's "Identity"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1945 first magazine appearance.Mike Christie submitted a 1946 cite from Mark Champion's "The Unforeseen".
Mike Christie submitted a 1943 cite from C. L. Moore's "Judgment Night".
Mike Christie submitted a cite from a 1977 (or later) reprint of A.E. van Vogt's 1972 "Ersatz Eternal".
Mike Christie submitted a cite from a 1984 reprint of Larry Niven's 1970 "Ringworld".
Mike Christie located and Robert Woodward submitted a 1995 cite from Alan Dean Foster's "Mid-Flynx".
Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a reprint of Robert Heinlein's "Beyond This Horizon"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1942 first magazine appearance.
Fred Galvin submitted a 1936 cite for "needle beam" from John W. Campbell's "Brain Stealers of Mars"
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a Project Gutenberg etext of "Brigands of the Moon", by Ray Cummings. Jesse Sheidlower verified this in the original appearance in Astounding.
Bill Mullins submitted a 1936 cite from J. H. Haggard, in Astounding.
Last modified 2020-12-16 04:08:47
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entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
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