protomatter

Noun

protomatter (uncountable)

1. The ultimate basis of physical substance, before it has been given form.
   • Perhaps the last named, mass-energy, comes closest to converying the Aristotelian idea of protomatter as the basic stuff of the universe. Whatever quarks may be, or leptons and hadrons in their various forms, it seems generally agreed that all are manifestations of mass-energy, the ultimate matrix...1996, William A Wallace, The Modeling of Nature, →ISBN
   • The owl's process of assimilation makes it impossible any longer for the mouse's substantial form to animate the mouse's protomatter, so it is replaced in its functioning by the substantial form of the owl. A mouse can become an owl (or part of an owl) preciesely because there is inherent in the...2001, James W. Felt, Coming to Be: Toward a Thomistic-Whiteheadian Metaphysics of Becoming, →ISBN

   Synonyms:

   hyle

2. A hypothetical substance from which the universe was created.
   • It is possible that the two principal alternative conceptions of the inexhaustibility of the microworld (an infinite "linear" hierarchy of structures or some primordial entity infinite in itself— single "protomatter" or an infinite number of simplest and equally elementary constituents) do not...1983, Einstein and the Philosophical Problems of 20th Century Physics, page 325
   • The diameter of a protomatter unit is the smallest possible separation of space. Protomatter is durable because it is indestructable. It is not possible to destroy a piece of nothing. Space is nothing. Protomatter is space.2009, Gary Weise, The Origin of Space Stars Planets and Life, →ISBN, page 19

   Synonyms:

   hyle

3. An unstable substance that is powerful and dangerous.
   • The No Damage option occurs when the computers are directed to control the protomatter environment from directly harming the user. This is because MegaCorps prefer their executives alive rather than dead.1995, Elaine Hinman-Sweeney, Hardwear/Softwear: Take a Walk on the Cyber Side, West End Games, Incorporated, →ISBN
   • No worlds, no stars, nothing but a raging sea of churning no-forms, the empty vessel of another universe eaten alive by protomatter, consumed and converted and fed upon until nothing else remained.2009, James Swallow, Titan #6: Synthesis, →ISBN, page 375