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.
Meanings
(not-comparable) Moving in, or having a zigzag.
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. 1912 January, Zane Grey, “Surprise Valley”, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC, page 102:
There, by dint of looking closely about me, I found a rough zig-zag descending path notched out: which I followed. 1866 December 10, Charles Dickens, “No. 1 Branch Line. The Signal-Man.”, in Charles Dickens, editor, Mugby Junction. The Extra Christmas Number of All the Year Round, volume XVI, London: Published at No. 26, Wellington Street; and by Messrs. Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 21, column 1:
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. 1854 September – 1855 January, [Elizabeth Gaskell], chapter 6, in North and South. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1855, →OCLC, pages 78–79:
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. 1880, Mark Twain [pseudonym] (Samuel L[anghorne] Clemens), A Tramp Abroad; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company; London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
Right and left ranked the toothed and zigzag line of storm-torn heights, forming the series which culminated in the one beneath their feet. 1872 September – 1873 July, Thomas Hardy, A Pair of Blue Eyes. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Tinsley Brothers, […], published 1873, →OCLC:
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. 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter II, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 20:
(US, World-War-I, not-comparable, slang) Drunk.
Forms
Spelling
Features
Labels
Source
zig-zag
alternative
lexicographic
Translations (15)
fi mutkitteleva (moving in or having a zigzag) · ka კლაკნილი (moving in or having a zigzag) · ka იკანკლური (moving in or having a zigzag) · cy igam-ogam (moving in or having a zigzag) · ka ზიგზაგური (moving in or having a zigzag) · ka დაკლაკნილი (moving in or having a zigzag) · mhr кыри-гури (moving in or having a zigzag) · pt ziguezagueante (moving in or having a zigzag) · et siksakiline (moving in or having a zigzag) · es en zigzag (moving in or having a zigzag) · eo zigzaga (moving in or having a zigzag) · ka ზიგზაგისებრი (moving in or having a zigzag) · gd lùbach (moving in or having a zigzag) · yo kọ́lọkọ̀lọ (moving in or having a zigzag) · mi kōpekapeka (moving in or having a zigzag)
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.
Meanings
In a zigzag manner or pattern.
Forms
Spelling
Features
Labels
Source
most zigzag
Degree=Sup
lexicographic
zig-zag
alternative
lexicographic
more zigzag
Degree=Cmp
lexicographic
Translations (30)
hu zegzugos vonalban (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · cy o un ochr i'r llall (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · fi siksak (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · hu zegzugosan (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · ka დაკლაკნილად (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · ko 실룩샐룩 (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · ko 지그재그로 (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · uk зиґза́ґами (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · pt ziguezagueando (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · et siksakiliselt (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · cmn 之字形 (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · ja 雁木 (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · ka ზიგზაგურად (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · ja ジグザグ (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · eo zigzage (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · ka კლაკნილად (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · cy igam-ogam (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · uk зигза́гом (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · hu cikcakkban (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · uk зигза́гами (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · de zickzack (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · es en zigzag (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · ru зигза́г (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · ka იკანკლურად (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · es zigzagueando (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · pt em ziguezague (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · ko 갈지자로 (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · ko 비틀배틀 (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · ko 휙획 (in a zigzag manner or pattern) · uk зиґза́ґом (in a zigzag manner or pattern)
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.
Meanings
A line or path that proceeds by sharp turns in alternating directions.
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. 1891 February–December, Robert Louis Stevenson, In the South Seas […], New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1896, →OCLC:
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: […]. 1865 November (indicated as 1866), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “Advice from a Caterpillar”, in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 70:
kk бұралаң (line or path) · cmn Z字形 (line or path) · az əyrəm (line or path) · ka იკანკელი (line or path) · tr zikzak (line or path) · ca ziga-zaga (line or path) · he זיגזג (line or path) · de Zickzack (line or path) · pl zygzak (line or path) · cy igam-ogam (line or path) · st letswedintsweke (line or path) · az ziqzaq (line or path) · af sigsag (line or path) · fr zigzag (line or path) · ru зигза́г (line or path) · mt żigużajg (line or path) · ia zigzag (line or path) · ca zig-zag (line or path) · hi टेढ़ा-मेढ़ा (line or path) · uk зиґза́ґ (line or path) · fi siksakki (turn) · be зігза́г (line or path) · es zigzag (line or path) · it zigzag (line or path) · zu imfolozi (line or path) · fi siksakki (line or path) · ga fiarlán (line or path) · et siksak (turn) · hu cikcakk (line or path) · ka ტეხილი (line or path) · kw kammdro (line or path) · sv sicksack (line or path) · ka ზიგზაგი (line or path) · cmn 之字形 (line or path) · ms jalur berliku (line or path) · hy զիգզագ (line or path) · mhr зигзаг (line or path) · gl zigzag (line or path) · uk зигза́г (line or path) · kw ygam-ogam (line or path) · fi terävä käännös (turn) · eo zigzago (line or path) · ia zígzág (line or path) · fa زیگزاگ (line or path) · ja ジグザグ (line or path) · chr ᏗᏓᏅᏗᏍᏔᏅᏓ (line or path) · no sikksakk (line or path) · ko 갈지자 (line or path) · et siksakjoon (line or path) · pt ziguezague (line or path) · ko 지그재그 (line or path) · sw zigizaga (line or path)
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.
Meanings
To move or to twist in a zigzag manner.
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. 2002, Malcolm Yorke, Mervyn Peake: My Eyes Mint Gold: A Life, page 298:
[…] 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. 1878 January–December, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], published 1878, →OCLC:
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. 1912 January, Zane Grey, “Surprise Valley”, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC, page 98:
cmn 蜿蜒 (move in a zigzag manner) · ca zigzaguejar (move in a zigzag manner) · mi whakatahataha (move in a zigzag manner) · kw kammdreylya (move in a zigzag manner) · cmn 彎彎曲曲 /弯弯曲曲 (move in a zigzag manner) · eo zigzagi (move in a zigzag manner) · it zigzagare (move in a zigzag manner) · fi pujotella (move in a zigzag manner) · fi mutkitella (move in a zigzag manner) · io zigzagar (move in a zigzag manner) · et siksakitama (move in a zigzag manner) · ru де́лать зигза́ги (move in a zigzag manner) · ja ジグザグに進む (move in a zigzag manner) · sh ševuljica (move in a zigzag manner) · ru идти́ зигза́гом (move in a zigzag manner) · es zigzaguear (move in a zigzag manner) · ia zigzagar (move in a zigzag manner) · cs kličkovat (move in a zigzag manner) · pt ziguezaguear (move in a zigzag manner) · hu cikázik (move in a zigzag manner) · cmn 曲折前進 /曲折前进 (move in a zigzag manner) · nmn ǂūbe (move in a zigzag manner) · fi säntäillä (move in a zigzag manner) · hu cikcakkban halad (move in a zigzag manner) · fr zigzaguer (move in a zigzag manner) · cy igamogamu (move in a zigzag manner)