"tractor beam" meaning in All languages combined

See tractor beam on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Forms: tractor beams [plural]
Etymology: Possibly a shortening of attractor beam; note however the broader meaning of tractor (“machinery that pulls something”). Coined by American science fiction author E. E. Smith in 1931 in his novel Spacehounds of IPC, first serialized in Amazing Stories. Etymology templates: {{coin|en|E. E. Smith|in=1931|nat=American|occ=science fiction author}} Coined by American science fiction author E. E. Smith in 1931 Head templates: {{en-noun}} tractor beam (plural tractor beams)
  1. (science fiction) A device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance. Categories (topical): Science fiction Translations (device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance): 牽引波束 (Chinese Mandarin), 牵引波束 (qiānyǐn bōshù) (Chinese Mandarin), 牽引光束 (Chinese Mandarin), 牵引光束 (qiānyǐn guāngshù) (Chinese Mandarin), vetosäde (Finnish), Traktorstrahl [masculine] (German), Fangstrahl [masculine] (German), raggio traente [masculine] (Italian), rayo tractor [masculine] (Spanish)

Inflected forms

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          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1945 June, Murray Leinster, “The Ethical Equations”, in Astounding Science Fiction, volume 35, number 4, page 122:",
          "text": "By the way they're braced, there are tractor beams and pressor beams and—there are vacuum tubes that have grids but apparently work with cold cathodes.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1977, George Lucas, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, spoken by Han Solo (Harrison Ford):",
          "text": "We're caught in a tractor beam! It's pulling us in!",
          "type": "quote"
        }
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        "A device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance."
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        [
          "beam",
          "beam#Noun"
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        [
          "attract",
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          "distance",
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        "(science fiction) A device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance."
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          "sense": "device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance",
          "word": "牽引波束"
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          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
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          "sense": "device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance",
          "word": "牵引波束"
        },
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          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance",
          "word": "牽引光束"
        },
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          "sense": "device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance",
          "word": "牵引光束"
        },
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          "sense": "device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance",
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        },
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          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance",
          "tags": [
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          "word": "Traktorstrahl"
        },
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          "code": "de",
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          "sense": "device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance",
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          "sense": "device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance",
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          "word": "raggio traente"
        },
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            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "rayo tractor"
        }
      ]
    }
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  "word": "tractor beam"
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          "beam",
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      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance",
      "word": "牽引波束"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "qiānyǐn bōshù",
      "sense": "device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance",
      "word": "牵引波束"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance",
      "word": "牽引光束"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "qiānyǐn guāngshù",
      "sense": "device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance",
      "word": "牵引光束"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance",
      "word": "vetosäde"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Traktorstrahl"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Fangstrahl"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "raggio traente"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "rayo tractor"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tractor beam"
}

Download raw JSONL data for tractor beam meaning in All languages combined (4.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-09-22 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-09-20 using wiktextract (af5c55c and 66545a6). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.