A door-opening, mine-detonating, metal-cutting, fictional pen-like tool called the “sonic screwdriver” is about to make its debut in the Oxford English Dictionary.
The fictional gadget gained popularity as a feature of the BBC’s long-running sci-fi series “Doctor Who.”
“Although the revised, third-edition text of the OED entry for sonic adj. won’t be published until June, we can travel forward in time to take a sneak peek at this Whovian entry,” a blog post on the dictionary’s website revealed Saturday.
Announced the same day as the show’s series 10 premiere, the dictionary shared a preview of what the entry will look like.
The multi-purpose tool will be joining other already existing entries from the British show such as, TARDIS, Dalek, and Cyberman.
“The sonic screwdriver won’t get you out of every tricky situation (as the Fourth Doctor had to admit) but it’s definitely worth having in your TARDIS toolbox, and, pretty soon, it’s going to be available in that other big blue cabinet of endless curiosity, the OED.”
Pop-culture terms are commonly added each year to the dictionary. In 2016, OED added 1,200 new additions including: “YOLO” and “‘Merica.”