tractor beam
tractor beam noun: a device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance.
Noun
tractor beam (plural tractor beams)
- A device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance.
- Through it Stevens saw with satisfaction that the Forlorn Hope was not being abandoned; in the grip of powerful tractor beams, every fragment of the wreckage was following close behind them in their flight through space.1931 August, E. E. “Doc” Smith, “Spacehounds of IPC”, in Amazing Stories, volume 6, number 5, page 549
- 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.1945 June, Murray Leinster, “The Ethical Equations”, in Astounding Science Fiction, volume 35, number 4, page 122
- Antonyms:
- pressor beam, repulsor beam
Antonyms of tractor beam
Forms of tractor beam
| plural | tractor beams |
|---|
Origin of tractor beam
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.
Questions about tractor beam
- What does tractor beam mean?
- Tractor beam means a device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance.
- What part of speech is tractor beam?
- Tractor beam is a noun.
- What is the plural of tractor beam?
- The plural of tractor beam is tractor beams.
Words near tractor beam in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tractor beam (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “tractor beam.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tractor_beam. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.