zombie out - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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First attested in 1981; zombie + out; compare the earlier adjective zombied-out (1976).
zombie out (third-person singular simple present zombies out, present participle zombying out or zombieing out, simple past and past participle zombied out)
- (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?
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.
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 quotations using this term, see Citations:zombie out.
- 1981, Contemporary Keyboard VII:i–vi, page unknown
become listless, vacant and unresponsive