Citations:Bat-Signal

Noun: "(idiomatic, informal) a thing which serves to attract or summon something"

 * 2011, Michael Kun & Adam Hoff, Football Uncyclopedia: A Highly Opinionated Myth-Busting Guide to America's Most Popular Game, page 99:
 * And just as the Starter jacket generally worked like a bat signal for being hip and cool, so, too, did the Raiders version of the jacket act as a flag for boorish behavior.
 * 2014, Cora Daniels & John L. Jackson, Jr., Impolite Conversations: On Race, Politics, Sex, Money, and Religion, page 252:
 * Even without the requisite chip, they should be able to signal the offending driver (with an NNPS light, like a bat signal for racism, something we can have factory-added to our vehicles).
 * 2014, Neal Salisbury, The Billionaire's Chef: Cooking for the Rich and Famished, page 34:
 * Having many of your peers on Facebook is helpful because you can put out a bat signal for information.
 * 2016, Elaine Ambrose, Feisty After 45: The Best Blogs of Mid-life Women, unnumbered page:
 * These frozen expressions appeared to be putting out a bat signal for a magical food fairy to arrive.
 * 2017, Kim Culbertson, The Wonder of Us, unnumbered page:
 * Apparently, Berlin sent out a Bat-Signal for museum geeks, a flash against the sky to say, There's an island just for you.
 * 2017, Naomi Klein, No Is Not Enough: Resisting the New Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need, unnumbered page:
 * The power of that promise is part of why Trump's election win was like a Bat-Signal for hatemongers of all kinds.
 * 2019, Katherine Levine Einstein, David M. Glick, & Maxwell Palmer, Neighborhood Defenders: Participatory Politics and America's Housing Crisis, page 38:
 * These notices are like a bat signal for neighborhood defenders.
 * 2020, Aaron Sharp, You Got This, Dad: The Expectant Father's Guide to Surviving Pregnancy, page 113:
 * This call was the verbal equivalent of a Bat-Signal for Mimi.
 * 2021, Spencer Coursen, The Safety Trap: A Security Expert's Secrets for Staying Safe in a Dangerous World, unnumbered page:
 * When used sparingly—when there is a clear and present threat to the life of a known victim—they [text alerts for wanted suspects] can serve as a Bat Signal for the public at large to be engaged in the see-something-say-something safety strategy.
 * 2021, Emma Howarth, A Year of Mystical Thinking: Make Life Feel Magical Again, page 22:
 * Once I'd dipped a toe into the mystical world, it was as if I'd sent out a bat signal for the rest of it to find me.
 * 2021, Clare Lydon, Hot London Nights, unnumbered page:
 * “You're clearly sending out a bat signal for people to come and in a find you.”
 * 2021, Victoria Restler, "In the 'Being' and the 'Doing': Teachers' Critical Embodied Pedagogies of Care", in Critical Pedagogy for Healing: Paths Beyond "Wellness," Toward a Soul Revival of Teaching and Learning (eds. Christopher Emdin, Robert Lake, & Tricia Kress), page 74:
 * During an image-elicitation interview, Sarah spoke about her “superfly haircut,” which she described as a “bat signal for LGBT students,” and queer presentation, drawing out the links between her appearance and teaching work.
 * 2022, Kathryn Cantrell, A Lot Like Paradise, unnumbered page:
 * If Hardy keeps attracting so many vets, Keller is going to have to put out a bat signal for more help."
 * 2022, Alyne Hart, Glitter, page 15:
 * "Have you met my mom? She's like a Bat-Signal for jerks. I'm never falling in love, Kellan. Ever. It's so stupid."
 * 2022, Dominic Hoey, Poor People With Money, unnumbered page:
 * It's like your pain's a bat signal for every annoying cunt in Auckland.
 * 2022, Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, Who Do I Think I Am?: Stories of Chola Wishes and Caviar Dreams, unnumbered page:
 * I honked the horn and flickered the lights as a bat signal for my mom to save me.
 * 2022, Kat Naud, The Other Side, unnumbered page:
 * Someone you can text even a damn emoji too that is like a bat signal for needing help or support.