Doctor Who's sonic screwdriver makes it into the Oxford English Dictionaries

The sonic screwdriver from the BBC's long-running TV series, Doctor Who, has made it into the dictionary.

It first appeared in the show in 1968 during Fury from the Deep with second doctor, Patrick Troughton, when he used it to open a hatch on a gas pipeline.

The phrase will be published in the Oxford English Dictionaries in June.

The new blog entry on the OED website, external says it's an "electronic device which uses sound waves to perform various mechanical and technical functions".

The doctor's sonic screwdriver was modified extensively over the years and can now perform lots of different tasks.

Uses include the ability to open doors, a medical scanner, incapacitating weapons and to repel Daleks - although it can't be used to wound or kill living beings.

According to the OED, the first sonic screwdriver was destroyed by a Tereleptil renegade just before the Great Fire of London during the fifth doctor Peter Davison's era in the early 1980s.

It returned when the series was revived in 2005.

Another already malfunctioning sonic screwdriver, external was destroyed by the 11th doctor, played by Matt Smith, when he tries to signal Atraxi ships in the episode, The Eleventh Hour.

The 12th, and present doctor, Peter Capaldi was given a new one by the Tardis.

Attempts have been made to recreate the Gallifreyan technology, including a large tabletop machine created by Dundee University scientists which can lift and turn objects using beams of ultrasound.

Other words from Doctor Who which have made it into the dictionary are Tardis, external, Dalek, external and Cyberman, external.

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