English

Actor and cosplayer Jonathan Carroll dressed as Superman at Dragon Con 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Proper noun

Superman ‎(countable and uncountable, plural Supermen)

1. A fictional comic-book superhero with superhuman strength and speed and the ability to fly. [from 1933.]

Translations

See also

• Superman on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Noun

Superman ‎(plural Supermen or Supermans)

1. A strong, tough or resistant man. (Alternative letter-case form of superman.)
2. (motorcycling, plural Supermans) A stunt in which the rider releases both hands from the handlebars in mid-air.
   • 2000, Garth Milan, Sara Perfetti, editor, Freestyle Motocross: Jump Tricks from the Pros, Osceola, Wis.: MBI Publishing Company, ISBN 978-0-7603-0926-1, pages 77 and 79:

     [page 77] Riders should adapt their own style when doing Supermans, and shouldn't get hung up trying to do it the same way that someone else does. […] [page 79] An extension of the Superman is a trick called the Superman Seat Grab. Even more impressive than the Superman itself, this trick was again brought over from the BMX world, […] During the Superman Seat Grab, […] the rider lets go of the left side of the bars and grabs either a cutout in the rear number plate or a grab handle that has been previously installed. With his body moved toward the back of the bike, the rider is able to extend the bike way out in front of himself, almost floating behind the machine. […] Whichever way they are done, the Superman and its variations are some of the most impressive and difficult tricks out there.

   • 2003, Dalton Cooper, “The First Time I Got My Dirt Bike”, in TWIGS in the Mitten, New York, N.Y.: School Success Press, iUniverse, ISBN 978-0-595-28210-4, pages 69–70:

     I'm still trying to do the tricks Nicknack, Superman, and Bar hop. […] Superman is where you grab the handlebars and let your feet and body free.

   • 2008, Andrew Fusek Peters, “The Bowl and the Bully”, in Diamonds are for Evil (Skateboard Detectives), London: Orchard Books, ISBN 978-1-84616-608-2:

     On the first vert, he reared up the side and let the bike take him out. Midair, he made the 180 turn and slipped back in. This time, as he hit the other side, his whole body slipped off the bike, until only his hands held onto the handlebars. The skaters deliberately turned away as the bikers chanted, ‘Superman! Superman! Superman!’

   • 2013, Larry Linkogle; Joe Layden, Mind of the Demon: A Memoir of Motocross, Madness, and the Metal Mulisha, Philadelphia, Pa.: Running Press, ISBN 978-0-7624-4766-4:

     A trick first popularized by Jeremy McGrath, the Superman gave the impression of a rider in full flight, not so much riding his bike as trailing it through the sky. McGrath had done the Superman at the end of races and in exhibitions, and it always killed. But he'd never done a Superman like this. No one had ever done it like this. The goal when executing a Superman was simply to go horizontal, at 180 degrees, while barely touching the bike. But this kid had gone way beyond horizontal. Rather than just kicking his feet out behind him, he'd lifted his legs high in the air, his boots hanging back over his body, two feet above his torso, like a scorpion getting ready to strike.

3. A flavor of ice cream that is a mixture of blue moon ice cream, and other ice cream flavors that are colored red and yellow.

Anagrams

• manpurse
• per nasum

English

German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who introduced the term Übermensch in an 1883 work. The word was first translated into English as superman in the early 20th century.

Noun

superman ‎(plural supermen)

1. (chiefly philosophy) An imagined superior type of human being representing a new stage of human development; an übermensch, an overman. [from 1903.]

   Nietzsche wrote of the coming of the superman.‎

   • 1903, [George] Bernard Shaw, “Man's Objection to His Own Improvement”, in The Revolutionist's Handbook and Pocket Companion, appendix to Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy, London: Constable, OCLC 903618586; republished as Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy (Penguin Books; 563) Harmondsworth, London: Penguin Books, 1951, OCLC 256998283, page 240:

     Man does desire an ideal Superman with such energy as he can spare from his nutrition, and has in every age magnified the best living substitute for it he can find. His least incompetent general is set up as an Alexander; his King is the first gentleman in the world; his Pope is a saint. He is never without an array of human idols who are all nothing but sham Supermen.

   • 1909, Friedrich Nietzsche; Thomas Common, transl., “Zarathustra's Prologue”, in Thus Spake Zarathustra; a Book for All and None (Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche; 4), Edinburgh, T. N. Foulis, OCLC 1210069; republished as Thus Spake Zarathustra, New York, N.Y.: The Modern Library, [1940s?], OCLC 11993131, page 6:

     And Zarathustra spake thus unto the people: / I teach you the Superman. Man is something that is to be surpassed. What have ye done to surpass man? / […] What is the ape to man? A laughing-stock, a thing of shame. And just the same shall man be to the Superman: a laughing-stock, a thing of shame.

2. A person of extraordinary or seemingly superhuman powers.

   He worked like a superman to single-handedly complete the project on time.‎

   • 1931, P[yotr] D[emianovich] Ouspensky; R[eginald] R. Merton, transl., “Superman”, in A New Model of the Universe: Principles of the Psychological Method in Its Application to Problems of Science, Religion, and Art, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, OCLC 1431250, pages 113–114:

     [page 113] The idea of superman is as old as the world. Through all the centuries, through hundreds of centuries of its history, humanity has lived with the idea of superman. Sayings and legends of all ancient peoples are full of images of a superman. Heroes of myths, Titans, demi-gods, Prometheus, who brought fire from heaven; prophets, messiahs and saints of all religions; heroes of fairy tales and epic songs, knights who rescue captive princesses, awake sleeping beauties, vanquish dragons, and fight giants and ogres—all these are images of a superman. […] [page 114] People dreamt of, or remembered times long past when their life was governed by supermen, who struggled against evil, upheld justice and acted as mediators between men and the Deity, governing them according to the will of the Deity, giving them laws, bringing them commandments.

   • 2010 August, A[lex] E[chevarria] Roman, chapter 25, in The Superman Project: A Chico Santana Mystery, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press, ISBN 978-0-312-37501-0, page 218:

     I had a vision of what the ideal man should be. I wanted someone whose income combined with mine could afford us a family, an apartment, a car, and all the travel, luxury, and fun we could possibly tolerate. I wanted a Superman.

   • 2016, Patrick J. Reider, “How Batman Cowed a God”, in Nicolas Michaud, editor, Batman, Superman, and Philosophy: Badass or Boyscout? (Popular Culture and Philosophy; 100), Chicago, Ill.: Open Court Publishing Company, ISBN 978-0-8126-9918-0:

     What type of human weakness might a being of unfathomable power—a superman—inadvertently expose to the keen analytic mind of an avenging dark knight? Would he discover that a superhuman being who cannot be overcome, who is loved and adored by most, and who awes the commoner, desires to be overcome?

   • 2016, A Study Guide for Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” (Novels for Students), Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale; Cengage Learning, ISBN 978-1-4103-3566-1:

     Early in Crime and Punishment, [Rodion] Raskolnikov has become obsessed with the notion that he himself is a "superman." Therefore, he thinks, he is not subject to the laws that govern ordinary people. […] However, his indecision and confusion throughout the novel indicate that he is not a superman. Moreover, in the course of the novel, [Fyodor] Dostoyevsky seeks to prove that there is no such thing as a superman. Dostoyevsky believes that every human life is precious, and no one is entitled to kill.

Alternative forms

• Superman

Antonyms

• netherman

Translations

See also

• superwoman

Anagrams

• manpurse
• per nasum

French

Etymology

Borrowing from English superman.

Noun

superman m ‎(plural supermans)

1. (philosophy) superman
2. superman (man with superpowers)

See also

• superwoman, superfemme, surfemme
• surhomme

Italian

Etymology

Borrowing from English superman, from super- +‎ man.

Noun

superman m ‎(invariable)

1. superman