batmobile
verbEtymology From the Batmobile driven by superhero Batman in the eponymous media franchise, from bat + -mobile. The second verb sense references the retractable shielding featured on the vehicle in the 1989 film.
1
Slang To move or proceed as if in the Batmobile
- We knew they were coming to children's records. It was only a matter of time before Bruce Wain^([sic]) and Dick Grayson would come Batmobiling off the turntable.1966 July 10, George A. Woods, “Pow! Zowie! Zap! It's Batman”, in The New York Times:
- Batman and Robin, the dynamic duo, come batmobiling right out of the old comic strip into a toy gift set for youngsters.1975 December, Maureen Smith, “Tinkertoys and Teddybears and Other Old Favorites”, in McCall's, page 9:
1 more example
- To be sure, DC Comics' Caped Crusader wasn't Batmobiling off the newsstands in the psychedelic '60s; […]2000 June 16, Ken Tucker, “Caped Fears”, in Entertainment Weekly:
2
Dated, Slang To put up an emotional or intellectual shield, especially to protect oneself from something that makes one uncomfortable.
- Genericans live on fast food bought with $20 bills (Yuppie food coupons) taken out of automatic teller machines. They tend to be young men and women prone to batmobiling, defined as "putting up protective emotional shields just as a relationship enters an intimate vulnerable stage," like the steel plates that cloak Batman's car.1997 June 8, James Coates, “Generica, Semisweet Land Of Jitterati”, in Chicago Tribune:
- Baby's antennae stood straight up. She tried to read him but Jake was too quick for her. He was batmobiling. His deflector screens had shot up—he was an emotional escape vehicle, complete with tinted windows. Bullet-proof, bomb-proof, utterly impenetrable.1998, Linda Jaivin, Rock 'n' Roll Babes from Outer Space, page 243:
1 more example
- Meredith (Gillian Anderson) is a frosty, uptight theatre director being romanced by an architect (John Stewart), but she is, as we say in the 90s, batmobiling - her defences are up.1999 August 6, Peter Bradshaw, “Sex in the windy city”, in The Guardian: