Meanings
plural pressor beams · alternative presser beam
- literatureA device that generates a beam that repels other objects; or the beam itself.
A pressor beam lashed out, and invisible hammer blow of repulsion, five times the strength of the enemy tractor.
1956 September, Poul Anderson, “Margin of Profit”, in Astounding Science Fiction, volume 58, number 1, page 582 more examples
Onward and upward flashed the gigantic duplex cone, its entire whirling mass laced and latticed together—into one mammoth unit by green tractor beams and red pressors.
1931 September, E. E. "Doc" Smith, “Spacehounds of IPC”, in Amazing Stories, volume 6, number 6, page 560By 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 122Synonyms: repulsor beam
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA device that generates a beam that repels other objects; or the beam itself.
Origin
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.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
pressor beam. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pressor%20beam
“pressor beam.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pressor%20beam. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pressor beam,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pressor%20beam.
Source: pressor beam on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.