Bat-Signal

English

Alternative forms
  • Bat-signal
  • bat-signal
  • Bat Signal
  • bat signal

Etymology

Bat- +‎ signal: the extended (general) sense comes from the Bat-Signal, a searchlight-based distress signal in the DC Universe, used by Gotham City police to summon the superhero Batman.

Noun

Bat-Signal (plural Bat-Signals)

  1. (idiomatic, informal) A thing which serves to attract or summon something.
    • 2017, Naomi Klein, No Is Not Enough: Resisting the New Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need‎:
      The power of that promise is part of why Trump's election win was like a Bat-Signal for hatemongers of all kinds.
    • 2022, Alyne Hart, Glitter‎, page 15:
      "Have you met my mom? She's like a Bat-Signal for jerks. I'm never falling in love, Kellan. Ever. It's so stupid."
    • 2022, Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, Who Do I Think I Am?: Stories of Chola Wishes and Caviar Dreams‎:
      I honked the horn and flickered the lights as a bat signal for my mom to save me.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Bat-Signal.

See also
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