zigzag
Part of speech: noun
adj
verb
adv
Morphological type: simple
Topics: government
military
politics
war
Etymology: 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.
Inflected forms:
form: zigzags
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: zig-zag
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: zig-zag
pos: adj
tags: alternative
form: zigzags
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: zigzagging
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: zigzagged
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: zigzagged
pos: verb
tags: past
form: zig-zag
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: more zigzag
pos: adv
tags: comparative
form: most zigzag
pos: adv
tags: superlative
form: zig-zag
pos: adv
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: A line or path that proceeds by sharp turns in alternating directions.
pos: noun
examples: 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: […].
And still, high in front, arose the precipitous barrier of the mountain, greened over where it seemed that scarce a harebell could find root, barred with the zigzags of a human road where it seemed that not a goat could scramble.
gloss: One of these sharp turns.
pos: noun
gloss: Moving in, or having a zigzag.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: 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.
His thoughts were fixed on one subject, and it was an effort to him to follow the zigzag remarks of his children—an effort which he did not make.
There, by dint of looking closely about me, I found a rough zig-zag descending path notched out: which I followed.
Right and left ranked the toothed and zigzag line of storm-torn heights, forming the series which culminated in the one beneath their feet.
We followed the mule-road, a zigzag course, now to the right, now to the left, but always up, and always crowded and incommoded by going and coming files of reckless tourists who were never, in a single instance, tied together.
Then he addressed a keen-sighted, remembering gaze to the rim-wall above. It was serrated, and between two spears of rock, directly in line with his position, showed a zigzag crack that at night would let through the gleam of sky.
gloss: Drunk.
pos: adj
tags: US
World-War-I
not-comparable
slang
gloss: To move or to twist in a zigzag manner.
pos: verb
examples: […] she saw them as we see the throngs which cover the canvases of Sallaert, Van Alsloot, and others of that school—vast masses of beings, jostling, zigzagging, and processioning in definite directions, but whose features are indistinguishable by the very comprehensiveness of the view.
At the base this vent was dark, cool, and smelled of dry, musty dust. It zigzagged so that he could not see ahead more than a few yards at a time.
If the first two novels created a new genre — Peakean fantasy — then this third volume zigzags between several: the Bildungsroman, science fiction, social satire, morality tale and dystopian prophecy.
gloss: In a zigzag manner or pattern.
pos: adv
Derived words: zigzag clover
zigzag railway
zigzag salamander
Translations: