Supermannish

See also: supermannish

English

Alternative forms

• Superman-ish

Etymology

From Superman +‎ -ish.

Adjective

Supermannish (comparative more Supermannish, superlative most Supermannish)

1. Resembling or characteristic of a Superman or specifically DC Comics’ Superman.
   • 1908 January 19, ““Superman” in Business”, in New-York Tribune, volume LXVII, number 22,344, New York, N.Y., page 8, column 2:

     This verdict was, in untechnical language, an effective reproof for “Supermannish” methods of financiering.

   • 1913, R[olfe] A[rnold] Scott-James, Personality in Literature, London: Martin Secker […]:

     The only important positive ideas for which he stands are the Supermannish idea of the duty of every man to be himself to the utmost, and a generous democratic idea of freedom, in accordance with which every self-respecting man and woman should be given the opportunity to work out his or her own destiny fully, unhampered by the tyrannies of caste, prestige, sentimental traditions, false codes, and effete moral obligations.

   • 1913 September 6, “Les Deux Forces. A Play in Four Acts by P.-J. Jouve. […]”, in The Academy and Literature, volume LXXXV, number 2157, London: Publishing Office, […], page 301, column 2:

     The two chief characters are rather “Supermannish,” and that demands super-actors; […]

   • 1918, William Roscoe Thayer, The Collapse of Superman, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company; Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, page 21:

     Search where we will, we find nothing Supermannish in such victories.

   • 1943 April 21, The Exhibitor, New York State edition, Philadelphia, Pa., page 1252, column 3:

     Bugs, in Supermannish guise, goes forth to battle with a man who hates rabbits, and defeats him.

   • 1949, Erick Berry [pen name; Evangel Allena Champlin Best], Forty-Seven Keys, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, page 121:

     Though I can see now that the hero of my first novel was too Supermannish, and just went from one success to another until I couldn’t think of any more ‘worlds for him to conquer.’

   • 1951 March 26, Barn, “'A Yank in Korea' Mediocre Programmer with Gimmick”, in Film Bulletin, volume 19, number 7, page 10:

     With actual clips of front line action interspersed periodically, the staged battle scenes seem even more contrived by comparison and some Supermannish feats unreeled by the Yank soldier-players only heighten the artificiality.

   • 1978, David Michael Petrou, The Making of Superman: The Movie, Warner Books, →ISBN, pages 35–36:

     Satisfied with him as an actor, Alex believed that with the right make-up, the blond, blue-eyed Redford would look “Supermannish” enough to carry the part off.

   • 1988 October 10, Gary Nuhn, “Bengals put Jets, ghosts of ’87 to rest”, in Dayton Daily News, volume 112, number 31, Dayton, Ohio, page 1-B:

     When he and his Cincinnati Bengal playmates were done with the AFC’s best defense, that of the New York-New Jersey Jets, he had done Supermannish damage — 30 carries, 139 yards and two TDs — as the Bengals won, 36-19.

   • 1991, William Strauss, Neil Howe, Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to 2069, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company, Inc., →ISBN, page 263:

     Everything about the Superman story reads like a parable of G.I.s on the move—the special child, the corrupt older (Lost) Lex Luthor, the rocklike manliness and Formica-like blandness, the unvarying success of Supermannish strength used for community good.

   • 1991 October 6, Brian Dunning, “When will Major make his move?”, in The Kansas City Star, page J-1, column 2:

     The Gulf War, the plight of the Kurds, the weekend at Kennebunkport, the Group of Seven conference, the flight to Moscow when the barricades were still in place, the blunt talking to the old men of China on human rights, the veto on sending troops into the Balkan quagmire of Yugoslavia — all combine to provide an image of Major as a political Clark Kent encircling the globe with Supermannish energy.

   • 1994, Rachel Simon, The Magic Touch, Viking, →ISBN, page 168:

     The few times Celeste was surprised by a fist or a glandular goon, her Supermannish strength came to her rescue.

   • 2000, Robert Crawford, “MacDiarmid in Montrose”, in Alex Davis, Lee M[argaret] Jenkins, editors, Locations of Literary Modernism: Region and Nation in British and American Modernist Poetry, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, part one (Obstinate Isles: The Anglo-Celtic Archipelago), page 36:

     Yet, as the book’s subtitle ‘Enigmas and Guesses’ suggests, Muir’s Supermannish determination is in part very clever bluster.

   • 2000 April 30, Greg Beacham, “Miller sparks second-half rally”, in Journal and Courier, volume 82, number 121, Lafayette-West Lafayette, Ind., page C1:

     “It was going to take a Superman-type effort for us to get a victory,” Miller said. “I was feeling Supermannish.”

   • 2003, David Lipsky, Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point, Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, pages 254–255:

     Before his turn, George lays aside his glasses with a vaguely Supermannish gesture of resolution and grit.

   • 2009, Sue Taylor, Mark Newport: Superheroes In Action, Cranbrook Art Museum, →ISBN, page 17:

     Edward Mehok offers a catalogue of prototypical Supermannish feats performed by Christian saints in “St. Clark of Krypton,” in Dooley and Engle, Superman at Fifty!, 123-29.

Synonyms

• Superman-esque