zombie out

English

WOTD – 12 March 2012    

Etymology

First attested in 1981; zombie + out; compare the earlier adjective zombied-out (1976).

Verb

zombie out (third-person singular simple present zombies out, present participle zombying out or zombieing out, simple past and past participle zombied out)

1. (informal) Become like a zombie in being listless, vacant, and unresponsive.
   • 1981, Contemporary Keyboard VII:i–vi, page unknown

     Ada Richter has compiled [Piano Classics] with the noble idea of helping younger students work on various aspects of technique without having to zombie out on drills and exercises.

   • 1984, Kirkus Reviews LII:xix–xxiv, page 986

     After Dennis got killed, my mom just kind of zombied out for a couple of years.

   • 1986, Jerome Charyn, War Cries Over Avenue C, page 271

     After I’ve been zombied out, will they hurt my dad?

   • 1988, Robert R. McCammon, Stinger, page 321

     After the ‛copter had crashed on Cobre Road, [Cody] figured he’d zombied out.

   • 1989, Patricia McConnel, Sing Soft, Sing Loud, page 60

     Black women just seem to do their time different. They sing more, goof around more. They don’t zombie out like the rest of us.

   • 1991, PRISM international XXX, page 73

     My man here keeps zombying out.

   • 1993, Martin C. Moore-Ede, The Twenty-Four-Hour Society, page 128

     The autoworker who zombies out as your car-to-be passes by on the assembly line…contribute[s] to a loss in your personal productivity and sometimes your safety.

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see the citations page.

Translations

become listless, vacant and unresponsive

• Finnish: ‎olla muissa maailmoissa, vetäytyä kuoreensa (fi), mennä sekaisin (fi)