zap

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zap^¹

/zæp/

Rhymes with -æp

Where it comes from

1920s, American English, of imitative origin.

noun zaps

colloquial A sound made by a sudden release of electricity or some similar energy.
colloquial An electric shock. You might feel a little zap touching a metal doorknob when the air is dry.
A raucous public demonstration designed to embarrass a public figure or celebrity as a form of political activism. Black AIDS activists were caught in the middle of a nearly yearlong series of zaps.
slang The act of heating something in a microwave oven. The guest immediately asked the bartender to give his drink a zap in the microwave oven behind him […]

verb zaps · zapping · zapped

intransitive To make a zap sound.
To use a remote control to repeatedly fast-forward or change channels on a television.
Similar: channel surf, channel hop
To strike (something or someone) with electricity or energy, as by shooting. They spent the whole movie zapping bad guys into oblivion.
US, slang, transitive To kill; to eliminate. Says a U. S. officer: "We zapped the enemy, now we intend to stick around. […]
slang, transitive To do away with something.
slang, transitive To enliven.
slang, transitive To move or transport (something) in a brief time frame.
slang, transitive To damage (especially electronics) with electrostatic discharge. I think they zapped the processor.
slang, transitive To heat (something) in a microwave oven. If it's not warm in the middle, zap it some more.
slang, transitive To delete or discard (electronic media). They zapped a lot of files before realizing they had not backed up lately.
slang, transitive To further energize or charge (magnetic material). They zapped my motor's magnets.
Singapore, informal, transitive To photocopy. Got to go and zap this document now.
To participate in a zap (protest) against. We are periodically assailed with appeals to help block this or censor that or zap the other media presentation which one or other of us thinks (often with justice) is injurious to gays or others.

interjection zap!

Representing the sound or action of a zap. Then the computer went zap and I lost all my work.

Zap^²

proper noun

A city and town in North Dakota.

Translations

Every language

noun sound

Deutsch	Funkenschlag

noun electrical shock

Español	corrientazo
Deutsch	(elektrischer) Schlag
Italiano	scossa

verb change channels repeatedly

Español	zapear, hacer zapping
Português	zapear, zapar, fazer zapping
Français	zapper, faire du zapping
Deutsch	zappen

verb strike with energy

日本語	なぐる naguru, 殺す korosu
Русский	ударить током udaritʹ tokom, шандарахнуть šandaraxnutʹ

verb delete (electronic media)

日本語	削除する sakujo suru
Français	enlever

intj representing the sound of a zap

Italiano	zaff

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Cite this

MLA

"zap." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/zap. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

zap. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/zap

Chicago

"zap." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/zap.

BibTeX

@misc{zap_2026,
  title = {zap},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/zap},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}

zap