zap
See also: Zap
Translingual
Symbol
zap
- (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Zapotec.
English
Etymology
1920s, American English, of imitative origin.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /zæp/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -æp
Noun
zap (plural zaps)
- (colloquial) A sound made by a sudden release of electricity or some similar energy.
- (colloquial) An electric shock.
- You might feel a little zap touching a metal doorknob when the air is dry.
- A raucous public demonstration designed to embarrass a public figure or celebrity as a form of political activism.
- 1998, Raymond A. Smith, Encyclopedia of AIDS
- Black AIDS activists were caught in the middle of a nearly yearlong series of zaps.
- 2011, Michael Schiavi, Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo (page 84)
- When a zap at Brooklyn's Board of Education opened no dialogue on discrimination suffered by gay teachers, GAA targeted the BOE offices on April 13.
- 1998, Raymond A. Smith, Encyclopedia of AIDS
- (slang) The act of heating something in a microwave oven.
- 2015, Thomas E. Johnson, West Meets East in Kazakhstan
- The guest immediately asked the bartender to give his drink a zap in the microwave oven behind him […]
- 2015, Thomas E. Johnson, West Meets East in Kazakhstan
Translations
sound
electrical shock
|
Verb
zap (third-person singular simple present zaps, present participle zapping, simple past and past participle zapped)
- (intransitive) To make a zap sound.
- To use a remote control to repeatedly change channels on a television.
- Synonyms: channel surf, channel hop
- To strike (something or someone) with electricity or energy, as by shooting.
- They spent the whole movie zapping bad guys into oblivion.
- (US, military, slang, transitive) To kill; to eliminate.
- 1966, U.S. News & World Report (volume 61, page 32)
- Says a U. S. officer: "We zapped the enemy, now we intend to stick around. […]
- 1966, U.S. News & World Report (volume 61, page 32)
- (slang, transitive) To damage (especially electronics) with electrostatic discharge.
- I think they zapped the processor.
- (slang, transitive) To heat (something) in a microwave oven.
- If it's not warm in the middle; zap it some more.
- (slang, transitive) To delete or discard (electronic media).
- They zapped a lot of files before realizing they had not backed up lately.
- (slang, transitive) To further energize or charge (magnetic material).
- They zapped my motor's magnets.
- (Singapore, informal, transitive) To photocopy.
- 2004 October 19, Kevin & Lily Shepherdson, “Digital Life”, in The Straits Times, Singapore, page 16:
- Got to go and zap this document now.
-
Descendants
- Catalan: zàping
- Dutch: zappen
- Esperanto: zapi
- French: zapping, zapper
- Galician: zapear, zapping
- German: zappen
- Portuguese: zapear, zapar, zapping
- Spanish: zapping, zapear
- Swedish: zappa
Translations
make a zapping sound
change channels repeatedly
|
strike with energy
|
damage with electrostatic discharge
heat in a microwave oven
|
delete (electronic media)
|
Interjection
zap!
- Representing the sound or action of a zap.
- Then the computer went zap and I lost all my work.
- 1975, Rennie Ellis, editors, Australian Graffiti, page [1]:
- Zap is a comic-book hero - Zap! Powie! Kazoom!; why have you retired, Zap, when we need you so much?
Translations
representing the sound of a zap
|
Dutch
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Verb
zap
- first-person singular present indicative of zappen
- imperative of zappen
Portuguese
Etymology
From the last part of "WhatsApp".
Noun
zap m (usually uncountable, plural zaps)
- WhatsApp (a messaging service)
Romanian
Interjection
zap
- Alternative form of zapa
Yola
Etymology
From Middle English soppe, from Old English sopa.
Noun
zap
- sup
References
- Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 80