droid

Etymology

event in Anaheim, California, April 2015.]] Clipping of android (“robot designed to look and act like a human being”), coined by the American science fiction author Mari Wolf (born 1927) in the story “Robots of the World! Arise!” (1952), and popularized by the film Star Wars (later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, 1977): see the quotations.

noun

1. (originally and chiefly science fiction) A robot, especially one made with some physical resemblance to a human (an android).
   It's crazy. They're swarming all over Carron City. They're stopping robots in the streets—household Robs, commercial Droids, all of them. They just look at them, and then the others quit work and start off with them. 1952 July, Mari Wolf, “Robots of the World! Arise!”, in James L. Quinn, editor, If (Project Gutenberg; Ebook #31611), volume 1, number 3, Kingston, N.Y.: Quinn Pub. Co., published 12 March 2010, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-04-27, page 76
   “These aren’t the ’droids you’re looking for,” [Obi-Wan] Kenobi told him pleasantly. 1976, George Lucas, [Alan Dean Foster], Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, page 77
   The bartender was a droid, as most were, but she doubted this one had been programmed to listen cheerfully to customers' hard luck stories. […] Droids couldn't be bribed, she thought with some regret. And threats had to be both clever and logical. 1995, J. D. Robb [pseudonym; Nora Roberts], chapter 3, in Glory in Death, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Books, page 39
   Do droids have capacities for mental states and language? There are plenty of examples of droids apparently engaged in behaviors expressive of mental states and language. One glaring example is the torturing of a droid at Jabba the Hutt's palace in Return of the Jedi. […] (Interestingly enough, one also gets the sense that the droid administering the torture is enjoying what he's doing.) 2005, Robert Arp, “‘If Droids Could Think …’: Droids as Slaves and Persons”, in Kevin S. Decker, Jason T. Eberl, editors, Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful than You Can Possibly Imagine (Popular Culture and Philosophy; 12), Chicago, LaSalle, Ill.: Open Court Publishing Company, part III (“Don’t Call Me a Mindless Philosopher!”)
   The trouble with droids is that they can't think, Obi-Wan told himself as he hacked his way through the battle droids that still clogged the sinkhole tunnel city on Utapau. An army made up of living beings would have seen how badly outnumbered they were, and given up. The droids just kept on fighting. 2005, Patricia C[ollins] Wrede, Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith[…], New York, N.Y.: Scholastic, page 142
   I'm close to finding those maps. I know it! Then six more missions and I'll have enough creds to set myself up in style on some snug and safe planet. I'll have a bunch of droid servants and never have to get my hands dirty again. 2014, S. E. Gilchrist, chapter 1, in When Stars Collide, Sydney, N.S.W.: Escape Publishing
   Stepping inside to the front office you'll find Black Spire's most complete collection of droids, technical manuals, droid parts, and tools. Tucked outside the shop lies a repair station and oil bath, normally considered a luxury by most droid companions. 2020, Eloc Throno [pseudonym; Cole Horton], “Droid Depot”, in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: Traveler’s Guide to Batuu, Bellevue, Wash.: Becker&mayer! books, The Quarto Group, page 36
2. (chiefly US, derogatory) A person having the qualities of an android; one with few or no emotions or little personality, or who acts in an unthinking manner; a robot.
   "Okay, Allie, I didn't want to have to do this, but if you insist on behaving like an astromech droid, you leave me no choice." Rory's an accountant and a Star Wars nerd. 2006, Shane Bolks, Reality TV Bites:[…], New York, N.Y.: HarperCollins, page 16