zip

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To move very fast.

   The runner zipped past us at breakneck speed.

2. 2
   verb

   To close or fasten something with a zip.

   He zipped up his jacket against the cold wind.

3. 3
   noun

   Zero; nothing at all.

   I know zip about economics.

4. 4
   noun

   A code of letters and numbers added to a postal address to help sort mail.

   I'll need your ZIP so I can mail you the package.

Multiword verbs with zip

• zip up Phrasal verb B2

  to close something by fastening its zipper

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Zip began in the mid-19th century as an imitation of the sound of something moving rapidly through the air, carrying an association with speed. It became a name for a fastener in the 1920s. The American sense “nothing” appeared by 1900, while ZIP in ZIP code has the unrelated origin “Zone Improvement Plan.”

Onomatopoeic.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary