Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun One of a series of sharp turns or reversals.
- intransitive verb To turn or change direction suddenly. Usually used in contrast to zag.
- intransitive verb To behave erratically or indecisively. Usually used with zag.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A sudden or sharp
turn or change ofdirection . - verb To make such a turn.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an angular shape characterized by sharp turns in alternating directions
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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One knits a rectangular strip, about 3 wide, and attaches it to a bib thing in zig-zag fashion, overlapping itself.
Archive 2009-08-01 Jean 2009
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One knits a rectangular strip, about 3 wide, and attaches it to a bib thing in zig-zag fashion, overlapping itself.
Jean's Knitting Jean 2009
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The Crash of 1929 and the Depression marked the next zag, followed by the longterm zig sparked by the New Deal and the host of social legislation that went with it.
Mark Olmsted: Taking Comfort in the Zig-Zagging of American History Mark Olmsted 2010
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The Crash of 1929 and the Depression marked the next zag, followed by the longterm zig sparked by the New Deal and the host of social legislation that went with it.
Mark Olmsted: Taking Comfort in the Zig-Zagging of American History Mark Olmsted 2010
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The figures of these men and women straggled past the flower-bed with a curiously irregular movement not unlike that of the white and blue butterflies who crossed the turf in zig-zag flights from bed to bed.
Monday or Tuesday 1921
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The road down the mountain wound constantly, and we travelled in short, zig-zag lines, in order to avoid the extremely abrupt declivities; but occasionally, we were compelled to descend in places that made us pause before making the attempt: they were, some of them, almost perpendicular, and our horses would frequently slide several yards, before they could recover.
Townsend Chapter 9 1839
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This plant is called the zig-zag golden-rod because its stem often turns first one way and then the other, as if it hadn't made up its mind which way to grow.
Some Summer Days in Iowa Frederick John Lazell 1905
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When sailing the down wind leg of a race you don't sail directly down wind, you actually tack slightly that is to say zig zag as this allows you travel faster than the wind.
Boing Boing Mark Frauenfelder 2010
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_artichoke_, but better known as a zig-zag cracker; "if they do not understand English, perhaps they may comprehend pyrotechnics."
Willis the Pilot Paul Adrien
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‘E was kind of zig-zagging across the pavement, and I bumps into ’im accidental-like.
Nineteen Eighty-four 2008
bkerr commented on the word zig
For great justice
May 6, 2007
jennarenn commented on the word zig
Funny, I always associate it with zag. Where does justice fit in?
May 6, 2007
bkerr commented on the word zig
Move zig -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_your_base
this is one of those net meme party-like-it's-2001 kind of things.
May 7, 2007
uselessness commented on the word zig
Main screen turn off.
May 7, 2007