zigzag

Meanings

1. 1
   adv

   in a zigzag course or on a zigzag path

   Birds flew zigzag across the blue sky.

2. 2
   verb

   travel along a zigzag path

   The river zigzags through the countryside.

3. 3
   noun

   A line or path that proceeds by sharp turns in alternating directions.

   She had just succeeded in curving it down into a graceful zigzag, and was going to dive in among the leaves, which she found to be nothing but the tops of the trees under which she had been wandering, when a sharp hiss made her draw back in a hurry: […].

4. 4
   adj

   Moving in, or having a zigzag.

   The entrance to this ancient place of devotion was under a very low round arch, ornamented by several courses of that zig-zag moulding, resembling shark's teeth, which appears so often in the more ancient Saxon churches.

Attested from 1712. Borrowed from French zigzag (attested from 1662), possibly from a Germanic source via Walloon ziczac (although German Zickzack is attested only from 1703). Also, possibly from the shape of the letter Z, which appears twice in the word. Sense “drunk” from the zigzag movements of a drunk person.

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