Etymology

pressor beam

Today it means: A device that generates a beam that repels other objects; or the beam itself. Full definition →

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The story

From press + -or and beam. Analogous to "presser beam", a beam that presses, as the inverse of tractor beam. Coined by American science fiction author E. E. Smith in 1931 in his novel Spacehounds of IPC, first serialized in Amazing Stories.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.