zip

/zɪp/

/zɪp/

Other forms: zipped; zipping; zips

To zip is to close with a zipper. Also, zip means zilch, which is zero or nothing. Make sure to zip your wallet because if everything falls out, you’ll have zip.

Zip as in “to close with a zipper” is short for — you guessed it — zipper. If you're cold, zip up your coat. If you zip your lips, you’re not using a zipper but you’re closing your mouth. Zip meaning “nothing” came from kids in the 1900s when they referred to getting a zero on a test. Now, if you have zip, you have nothing, and not just on a test.

Definitions of zip

1. noun

   forceful exertion
   “he's full of zip”

   synonyms: energy, vigor, vigour

   types:

   athleticism, strenuosity

   the quality of having physical strength, speed, and energy

   type of:

   force, forcefulness, strength

   physical energy or intensity
2. verb

   move very fast
   synonyms: hurry, speed, travel rapidly

   types:

   dart, fleet, flit, flutter

   move along rapidly and lightly; skim or dart

   run

   move fast by using one's feet, with one foot off the ground at any given time

   whizz, whizz along, zoom, zoom along

   move along very quickly

   butterfly

   flutter like a butterfly

   clip, jog, trot

   run at a moderately swift pace

   scamper, scurry, scuttle, skitter

   move about or proceed hurriedly

   romp

   run easily and fairly fast

   run bases

   run around the bases, in baseball

   streak

   run naked in a public place

   run

   run with the ball; in such sports as football

   outrun

   run faster than

   jog

   run for exercise

   sprint

   run very fast, usually for a short distance

   lope

   run easily

   rush

   run with the ball, in football

   hare

   run quickly, like a hare

   type of:

   go, locomote, move, travel

   change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
3. noun

   a fastener for locking together two toothed edges by means of a sliding tab
   synonyms: slide fastener, zip fastener, zipper

   type of:

   fastener, fastening, fixing, holdfast

   restraint that attaches to something or holds something in place
4. verb

   close with a zipper
   “Zip up your jacket--it's cold”

   synonyms: zip up, zipper

   type of:

   fasten, fix, secure

   cause to be firmly attached
5. noun

   a quantity of no importance
   synonyms: aught, cipher, cypher, goose egg, nada, naught, nil, nix, nothing, null, zero, zilch, zippo

   types:

   nihil

   (Latin) nil; nothing (as used by a sheriff after an unsuccessful effort to serve a writ)

   type of:

   relative quantity

   a quantity relative to some purpose