Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

tractor beam

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.62 in modern English

Syllables: trac-tor beam
IPA

17

Scrabble Score

11

Letters

2

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance.

Example Sentences

"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."
"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."
"We're caught in a tractor beam! It's pulling us in!"

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.

Inflected Forms

tractor beams (plural)

Antonyms

pressor beam repulsor beam

Questions

What does tractor beam mean?: A device-generated beam used to attract other objects from a distance.
Where does tractor beam come from?: 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.

How to pronounce tractor beam

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