Meanings
- uncountableliteratureA hypothetical substance with anti-gravity effects.
“It seems to me it wouldn't cost much to cart any weight anywhere if you packed it in a Cavorite case.”
1901, H. G. Wells, The First Men in the Moon, Chapter 31 more example
“In the early years, they were the most primitive structures ever to fly in space, cheap and overbuilt and overcrewed, hoisted on cavorite wings.”
1999, Vernor Vinge, A Deepness in the Sky, reprinted by Macmillan, published 2000, →ISBN, page 760
Origin
From Cavor + -ite. Coined by British science fiction author H. G. Wells in 1901 in The First Men in the Moon. It was named after the fictional Dr. Cavor. The initial use was capitalized, but later authors borrowing the concept sometimes changed it to lowercase. In the first use, the metal acted as a gravity shield; after the metal was cooled, objects contained within it were no longer subject to gravity. Some later uses, e.g., Alan Moore's, imagine the substance to simply have a negative gravitational mass.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
cavorite. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cavorite
“cavorite.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cavorite. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cavorite,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cavorite.
Source: cavorite on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.