gafiate

Noun

gafiate (plural gafiates)

1. (dated, slang) A science fiction fan who has become inactive in the fandom community.
   • Westlake's piece is so reminiscent of the old days of fandom, when no gafiate felt he had actually departed until he had alienated everybody on his mailing list.1962, J. Baxter, Xero
   • Herman Stowell King, a long-time gafiate (we first met in the 60s) and collector, turned up in the local Sunday paper with a well-written review of Whitley Streiber's The Forbidden Zone.1993 October, It Goes On The Shelf, number 10

Verb

IPA/ˈɡæfiˌeɪt/

gafiate (third-person singular simple present gafiates, present participle gafiating, simple past and past participle gafiated)

1. (dated, slang) To leave the mundane world and enter the science fiction fandom community.
   • She gafiated the moment she first picked up a pulp magazine.
2. (slang) To drop out of fandom community activities, with the implication of "getting a life".
   • QUANDRY (Hoffwoman) The famous fanzine published by Lee Hoffman of Savannah Ga. before she gafiated for the first time.1959, Richard "Dick" Harris Eney, Fancyclopedia II
   • He was quite active in the 1940's, vanished for a long while, then reappeared in the 1960's to put out lots of issues of this fanzine with the help of his wife, only to gafiate a second time as abruptly and totally as anyone ever has quit fandom.1976 November, Harry Warner, Jr., “In One Lustrum and Out the Other”, in Science-Fiction Five-Yearly, number 6, page 11