light speedn.adj.

1856 Chambers's Jrnl. 8 Mar. 149/1 By converting twenty millions of units that are determined by periods of steam-speed, into one unit that is determined by light-speed, a new comprehensive span is obtained.

1907 Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. 42 710 Considering first the voltage wave arriving at the distant open end of the line, it rebounds therefrom at light-speed, or is reflected there.

1940 ‘R. Rocklynne’ in Astonishing Stories June 61/1 Far past in the gone ages of our race, we were pitiful, tiny blobs of energy which crept along at less than light speed.

1998 Wired July 97/2 Chiao recently performed an experiment in which a photon..was clocked at 1.7 times light speed.

2013 L. Billings Five Billion Years Solitude ix. 234 An engineer told a scientist that it would be straightforward to send a robotic probe at 10 percent of light-speed to Alpha Centauri.

1974 Amer. Cinematographer Mar. 328/3 That meant filming about 12 scenes every night, for 9 nights... Thus, we'd have to work at light-speed.

1990 Economist 24 Mar. 113 To be honest,..the performance of the traditional licensed cab has not reached light speed yet.

2003 Bitch Summer 33/2 At HarperCollins, things are moving at light speed, and people are dropping what they're doing to work on my stuff.

1899 Proc. Physical Soc. 16 367 Nothing at all reaches the distant end [sc. of the cable] till the light-speed-time has elapsed; and the light-speed-time in a cable depends on the μ and K of its insulating sheath.

1928 Nevada State Jrnl. 29 July 3/4 (headline) Physicist to make light speed tests.

1974 U. K. Le Guin Dispossessed (1975) xi. 276 I was traveling from Terra to Urras in a nearly light-speed ship.

2012 Times (Nexis) 1 Mar. (Eureka section) 8 What is the path for light-speed particles within a solid body? It is conceivable that, within a mass, it is actually shorter than a straight line.

1987 J. Chastain I'd speak out on Issues viii. 165 You can really work on your light-speed scanning technique and photocopy the articles you want to take with you when you leave.

1993 Coloradoan (Fort Collins) 10 Jan. c9/1 ‘Incesticide’ capitalizes on Nirvana's light-speed journey to world domination by offering left-over, largely mediocre material to maintain consumer interest until the next real album.

2003 Amer. Jrnl. Psychiatry 160 631/2 It is unlikely that we will soon experience the light speed progress of genomics in understanding, treating, or preventing major mental disorders.