Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Zombie |
ZombieNoun1. A dead body that has been brought back to life by a supernatural force. 2. (voodooism) a spirit or supernatural force that reanimates a dead body. 3. A god of voodoo cults of African origin worshipped especially in West Indies. 4. Someone who acts or responds in a mechanical or apathetic way; "only an automaton wouldn't have noticed". 5. Several kinds of rum with fruit juice and usually apricot liqueur. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "zombie" was first used: 1871. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Computing | Zombie n. 1. [Unix] A process that has died but has not yet relinquished its process table slot (because the parent process hasn't executed a `wait(2)' for it yet). These can be seen in `ps(1)' listings occasionally. Compare orphan. 2. A machine, especially someone's home box, that has been cracked and is being used as part of a second-stage attack by miscreants trying to mask their home IP address. Especially used of machines being exploited in large gangs for a mechanized denial-of-service attack like Tribe Flood Network; the image that goes with this is of a veritable army of zombies mindlessly doing the bidding of a necromancer. Source: Jargon File. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A zombie is a kind of undead, or figuratively, a very apathetic person.
According to the tenets of Vodun (voodoo), a dead person can be revived by a houngan or mambo. After resurrection, it has no will of its own, but remains under the control of the person who performed the ritual. Such resurrected dead are "zombies".
A more skeptical take is that a zombie is a living person who has never died, but is under the influence of powerful drugs. Wade Davis, an American botanist, was the main person to present a pharmacological case for zombies in two books - The Serpent and the Rainbow (1985) and Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie (1988). Davis travelled to Haiti in 1982 and as a result of his investigations claimed that zombies could be made by the ingestion of two special powders. The first, coupe poudre, induced a 'death-like' state, the key ingredient of which was the pufferfish (Tetraodontiformes) toxin tetrodotoxin (TTX). The second powder of dissociative hallucinogens held the person in a will-less zombie state. There was considerable scepticism to Davis's claims, he was widely accused of fraud and there has been no final statement as to the veracity of his findings.
Others claim zombies are sufferers of various psychiatric disorders such as catatonic schizophrenia whose symptoms are misinterpreted as a return from the dead.
Zombies are regularly encountered in horror- and fantasy-themed fiction, films, video games and role-playing games. They are typically depicted as mindless, shambling, decaying corpses with a hunger for human flesh, most famously in Night of the Living Dead. However, some films (such as 28 Days Later) feature living but otherwise zombie-like humans, usually as the result of disease.
The Resident Evil series of video games makes particular use of zombies.
Other causes of zombies in fiction include radiation acting on the brains of the dead, evil magic or Vodun, the use of drugs, or the substitution of the brain for some sinister artifact.Zombies in Vodun
Zombies in fiction
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Zombie."
Synonyms: ZombieSynonyms: automaton (n), snake god (n), the living dead (n), zombi (n), zombi spirit (n), zombie spirit (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Zombie |
| Specialty definitions using "zombie": defunct process ♦ orphan process ♦ process table ♦ zombie process. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Zombie" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. German (zombie), Italian (zombie). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Dad, you killed the zombie Flanders! (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge) Gee, dad, maybe if you don't eat people, nobody will notice you're a zombie. (Chopper Chicks in Zombietown; writing credit: Dan Hoskins) How do we know it's really you and not zombie Giles? (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer) It's a zombie. (Angel; writing credit: Letcia Dornelles) So he and his horrible zombie dog, Could go searching for victims in the London fog. (Vincent; writing credit: Tim Burton) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Zelda the Zombie (1965) Abercrombie the Zombie (1965) Get Along Little Zombie (1946) I Walked with a Zombie (1943) White Zombie (1932) | |
Song Titles | Zombie (performing artist: The Cranberries) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| "Zombie" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 88.89% of the time. "Zombie" is used about 72 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 88.89% | 64 | 42,009 |
| Noun (proper) | 11.11% | 8 | 124,375 |
| Total | 100.00% | 72 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "zombie": become a zombie ♦ like a zombie ♦ zombie process ♦ zombie spirit. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "zombie": zombie-clerk, zombie-ish, zombie-like. | |
Ending with "zombie": computer-zombie. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
rob zombie | 1,874 | zombie game | 23 |
zombie | 547 | zombie revenge | 22 |
white zombie | 488 | rob zombie wallpaper | 20 |
rob zombie lyrics | 166 | rob zombie mp3 | 18 |
zombie nation | 121 | eater flesh zombie | 18 |
zombie movie | 114 | white zombie tab | 18 |
picture zombie | 70 | rob zombie dragula lyrics | 16 |
joe zombie | 53 | rob zombie tab | 16 |
lyrics white zombie | 48 | zombie art | 15 |
cranberry zombie | 47 | white zombie mp3 | 15 |
cranberry lyrics zombie | 41 | discography white zombie | 12 |
rob zombie picture | 38 | rob zombie dragula | 12 |
rob zombie pic | 38 | drink zombie | 12 |
lyrics reload rob zombie | 32 | white zombie picture | 12 |
zombie lyrics | 30 | white zombie guitar tab | 11 |
pic zombie | 30 | scooby doo on zombie island | 11 |
movie rob zombie | 28 | rob zombie discography | 11 |
rob zombie.com | 27 | zombie film | 11 |
college zombie | 25 | keeper zombie | 11 |
rob zombie art | 24 | powder zombie | 11 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "zombie"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | teveqel (dolt, dull, dummy, fool, foolish, imbecile, innocent, noodle, simpleton, zany), mumje (mummy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | ميت أعيد الى الحياة, غيبوبة (coma, shock, stupefaction, stupor), الزومبية شراب مسكر. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | съживен с магия мъртвец, глупак (bird brained, blinker, boeotian, bonehead, boob, booby, calf, chuckle-head, clod, clot, coot, dodo, dotterel, driveler, dummy, fathead, flat, fool, gaby, gawk, goof, goon, gowk, greenhorn, gull, hammerhead, jackass, jobbernowl, lack-brain, lame brain, leather-head, lunkhead, muggins, mutt, mutton head, ninny, nitwit, noddy, noodle, numskull, nutter, oaf, pudding-head, pumpkin-head, sap, sap-head, schmo, schnook, sheep's head, silly, simp, simple, simpleton, spoon, stupe, stupid, thickhead, tomfool, twit, witling, wittol, zany), вид коктейл (old fashioned, sidecar, stinger), новобранец (boot, inductee, raw recruit, recruit, rookie, yard bird), автомат (automat, automation, machine gun, robot, submachine gun, tommy gun), дървеняк (ape, ape-man, bumpkin, loon, lubber, lubber-head, lug, lummox, numskull, pudding-head). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 蛇神. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | tupec (blockhead, dullard), moula (drip, goon, mug), mátoha, chodící mrtvola, živá mrtvola. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | zombi, mort vivant. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Zombie. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | βρυκόλακασ (vampire), ζωντανόσ νεκρόσ. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מת קם לתחי", פולחן "פיתון, א"ם ר"ום חסר מרץ, 'ופ" מת"לכת. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | reaktivált ember. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | orang bebal (dunce, zombi), mayat hidup. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | zombie. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | ソ連 (Russia, Soviet Union, tar, target, term, terminal, terminal building, terminal care, terminator, turban, turbine, turbo, turbocharger, turquoise, zone, Zoroaster). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | ゾン" . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | corp fo ghruiaghtys. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ombiezay zumbi, morto-vivo. (various references) prost (ass, bad, badly, beef-witted, blinkard, blockhead, blunt, booby, calf, cheap, clumsy, cock eyed, common, dead, dolt, doltish, donkey, dull, dullard, dumb, dunce, dunderhead, flat, fool, foolish, good for nothing, goof, goon, goose, Goosey, gull, harmful, idiot, idiotish, inhospitable, lousy, lubber-head, miserable, nincompoop, ninny, nitwit, nitwitted, noddy, noodle, numskull, numskulled, oaf, oafish, pin head, poor, poorly, silly, simple, simpleton, snipe, soft, soft-headed, sorry, spoony, stupid, thoughtless, unfavorable, unfavourable, wretched), nãtâng (blockhead, clumsy, dead from the neck, Dotty, driveller, duffer, dummy, dunce, fat-head, feather-brained, foolish, noddy, silly, tomfool, wet), fantomã (apparition, Bogle, chimera, fetch, ghost, phantasm, phantom, shade, shadow, spectre, spook, wraith). (various references) зомби (zombies). (various references) zombi, oživljeni leš, natprirodna sila, bog zmija. (various references) zombi, autómata (automaton, robot). (various references) gengångare (ghost, spectre). (various references) เทพเจ้างูในแอฟริกาตะวันตกและหมู่เกาะแถบอินเ"ียตะวันตก, อำนาจเหนือธรรมชาติที่ทำให้ศพกลา, อำนาจเหนือธรรมชาติที่ทำให้ศพกลับมามีชีวิตอีกครั้ง, ซากศพที่ถูกทำให้มีชีวิตขึ้นมาอีกครั้ง. (various references) zombi (zombi), yaşayan ölü, yılan tanrı. (various references) чудило (case), тупак (numskull), новобранець (boot, conscript, freshman, recruit, rookie), зомбі, перевертень. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Spanish | 900-Modern | sombra. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "zombie": zombielike, zombies. (additional references) | |
| |
"Zombie" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: zambie, zobe, Zogby, zombine, zombis, zomby, zonie. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "zombie" (pronounced zÄ"mbē) |
| 3 | -m b ē | crumby, Lambie, Lamby. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-e-i-m-o-z" | |
-1 letter: biome, zombi. | |
-2 letters: bize. | |
-3 letters: bio, biz, mib, mob, obe, obi. | |
-4 letters: be, bi, bo, em, me, mi, mo, oe, om. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-e-i-m-o-z" | |
+1 letter: bromize, zombies. | |
+2 letters: bromized, bromizes, mobilize. | |
+3 letters: bombazine, mobilized, mobilizes, symbolize, zombified, zombifies. | |
+4 letters: bombazines, demobilize, immobilize, lobotomize, metabolize, remobilize, symbolized, symbolizer, symbolizes, zombielike. | |
+5 letters: amortizable, demobilized, demobilizes, emblazoning, immobilized, immobilizer, immobilizes, lobotomized, lobotomizes, memorizable, metabolized, metabolizes, remobilized, remobilizes, suboptimize, symbolizers. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Translations: Ancient 12. Derivations | 13. Rhymes 14. Anagrams 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
