dalek

Noun capitalized: Dalek

Dalek (plural Daleks)

1. A member of a species of extraterrestrial cyborg mutants who appear in the television programme Doctor Who and are known for travelling in metallic shells, having monotone, mechanically distorted voices, repeating a limited number of phrases, and their fanatical obsession with exterminating other, non-Dalek beings.
   • 'But Alydon,' I persisted, 'the Daleks aren't human beings. They're just evil, half creatures, half machines, determined to destroy you.'1964, David Whitaker, Dr. Who and the Daleks, chapter 6 (based on the film script Dr. Who and the Daleks by Milton Subotsky, based itself on the tele-script The Mutants/The Daleks by Terry Nation)
   • […] what kind of courage it must have taken for Hawkins, an actor renowned for the quality of his voice, to go back onto the set to deliver lines in that oesophageal monotone, what he called his "Dalek voice".1987, Barry Norman, The Movie Greats, page 144
2. (figuratively) One who is dogmatic, unfeeling and determined.
   • In an article in The Times Lord Chalfont said: "The programmed Daleks of the French military planners were evolving a plan which was really a carbon copy of the British plan."1973, Trades Union Congress, Report of Annual Trades Union Congress
   • And rightly so, if only out of respect for the numerous idiosyncrasies left out of any generalized model of behaviour and, if only out of sheer personal honesty in admitting that individuals are never like the streamlined daleks of psychometric regressions.1981, Kjell Raaheim, Janek Wankowski, Helping Students to Learn at University, →ISBN