batman

[bat-muh n]

noun, plural bat·men. (in the British army)

a soldier assigned to an officer as a servant.

Origin of batman

1745–55; short for bat-horse man, equivalent to bat < French bât packsaddle (< Vulgar Latin *bastum, noun derivative of *bastāre to carry < Late Greek *bastân, re-formation of Greek bastázein to lift, carry) + horse + man¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for batman

Contemporary Examples of batman

I heard that at one point you were trying to put together a Batman musical on Broadway.
Tim Burton Talks ‘Big Eyes,’ His Taste For the Macabre, and the ‘Beetlejuice’ Sequel
Marlow Stern
December 17, 2014
With Batman and Planet of the Apes, you seem to be operating around 15 years ahead of the culture.
Tim Burton Talks ‘Big Eyes,’ His Taste For the Macabre, and the ‘Beetlejuice’ Sequel
Marlow Stern
December 17, 2014
Comic book heroes are even hotter—Spiderman and Batman probably earn more money nowadays than Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.
Can Tarzan of the Apes Survive in a Post-Colonial World?
Ted Gioia
November 23, 2014
When she joins Batman and Superman in the Justice Society of America, she does so as secretary.
Wonder Woman’s Creation Story Is Wilder Than You Could Ever Imagine
Tom Arnold-Forster
November 3, 2014
Such standout performances have been rare: her big-screen blockbuster salvo, Batman Begins (2005), fizzled to nothing.
How Can Katie Holmes Escape Tom Cruise—and ‘Dawson’s Creek’?
Tim Teeman
October 30, 2014

Historical Examples of batman

Some, like my first batman Dinsdale, died in hospital at Alexandria or in Malta.
With Manchesters in the East
Gerald B. Hurst
So I told my batman to get hot water brought there in the mornings.
An Onlooker in France 1917-1919
William Orpen
As soon as my batman wires me that the weather has improved.
The Orchard of Tears
Sax Rohmer
The other was a military “batman,” a blue-eyed Yorkshireman.
The Watchers of the Plains
Ridgewell Cullum
He slept soundly and was wakened an hour before dawn by his batman.
Tam O' The Scoots
Edgar Wallace

British Dictionary definitions for batman

batman

noun plural -men

an officer's personal servant in any of the armed forces

Word Origin for batman

C18: from Old French bat, bast, from Medieval Latin bastum packsaddle

Batman

noun

a character in an American comic strip and several films who secretly assumes a batlike costume in order to fight crime

Batman

noun

John . 1801–39, a pioneer who selected the site of the city of Melbourne

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for batman

"officer's servant," originally military title for "man in charge of a bat-horse and its load," 1755, from bat "pack-saddle" (late 14c.), from Old French bast (Modern French bât), from Late Latin bastum (see baton). Hence also batwoman (1941). The comic book hero dates from 1939.

batman in Culture

Batman

A comic strip character that first appeared in 1939. With his faithful sidekick Robin (the Boy Wonder), Batman fights crime in Gotham City, foiling evil villains such as the Joker and the Riddler.

Note

Batman's adventures have been widely adapted for television and a number of motion pictures.