Tardis
name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Alternative form of Tardis. alt-of, alternative
"The photograph 'the romance of the auto/biographer's desk' is a tardis; when I enter the photograph I can move through time, move through a variety of times indeed."
- 2 Alternative form of Tardis (something which resembles the bigger-on-the-inside time machine from the series Doctor Who). alt-of, alternative
"This unassuming Georgian terrace house, located within five minutes walk of the busy commercial and tourist heart of Bath in Somerset, is like a veritable TARDIS of astronomical history and discovery, with more to see on the inside than its [exterior suggests]."
- 3 Something which resembles such a machine, either in that it travels through time or in that its interior is or appears to be larger (or more full of information or things) than its exterior suggested.
"What the designers of the Campanian programmes aim for is something like a 'Tardis effect', the dissolving of actual boundaries into a limitless space[…]"
- 1 The time machine and spacecraft used by the Doctor in the British sci-fi television series Doctor Who, which is larger on the inside than its exterior (that of a British police box) suggests, or any of the conceptually similar time machines used by other members of the Doctor's race, the Time Lords.
"'While I was in the Rani's TARDIS, I made an adjustment or two.' He chuckled, remembering the occasion."
- 2 Alternative form of TARDIS (time machine from the series Doctor Who which is larger on the inside than the outside). alt-of, alternative
"[…] in a cubicle on the top floor which, because of its 21st century appearance, is known to everybody as the 'Tardis'."
Example
More examples"The photograph 'the romance of the auto/biographer's desk' is a tardis; when I enter the photograph I can move through time, move through a variety of times indeed."
Etymology
Coined in 1963 for the British science-fiction programme Doctor Who; said to stand for "Time and Relative Dimension(s) in Space".
From TARDIS, the designation of the bigger-on-the-inside time machine used in the British science-fiction TV series Doctor Who, said in the 1963 story "An Unearthly Child" to be an abbreviation for "Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space"..
Related phrases
More for "tardis"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.