zipper

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zipper

/ˈzɪpɚ/ US
/ˈzɪpə(ɹ)/ UK

Rhymes with -ɪpə(ɹ)

Where it comes from

1925, zip + -er. The trade name was registered in 1925 by B.F. Goodrich for “boots made of rubber and fabric,” claiming use of the name since June 1923. No longer a registered trademark.

noun zippers

Australia, US A zip fastener. He got his T-shirt stuck in the zipper of his jacket.
A pressure-sensitive plastic closure, as on a Ziploc bag.
A leucine zipper.
slang A scar on a person's body. I also competed in track and field at Idaho, and it's all because of putting the shot that I've got my long scar, my zipper, down the back of my neck.
US, dated, slang An air patrol carried out at dawn or dusk. […] the usual gap between the time the last strike of the day departed and the first night hecklers arrived was closed with "zippers" — night fighters who, using day fighter tactics, proceeded to the target in daylight in time to relieve the last day blanket patrol.
A string of clothes pegs or clips attached to the body and then quickly pulled off.
A technique for arbitrarily traversing an aggregate data structure and updating its contents. See zipper (data structure).
A zipline. Skills acquired include learning the "Flea Hop" and the "Tarzan Swing" as well as "Riding the Zipper" (sliding 400 feet on a cable between two mountain peaks), canoeing in white-water rapids, bushwacking and learning to "rappel" hundreds of feet down sheer rock cliffs on a rope.

Similar: slide fastener, zip, zip fastener

verb zippers · zippering · zippered

To close a zipper. He zippered his sweater against the cold.
Similar: zipper up, zip up, zip · Opposite: unzipper, unzip, zipper down, zip down
To put a zipper on an article. These fall jackets are zippered.
To act in a manner similar to a zipper closing; to interleave. If more drivers knew how to zipper, the accident would not have disrupted traffic so much.
Similar: zipper up, zip up, zip
To unzipper.
Similar: zipper down, zip down, unzip

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: zip up, slide fastener, zip, zip-fastener, rack, slide, chute, closing, close, shutdown, closure, leucine, fly, shut-down, zip fastener, ziplock

noun

Similar: slide fastener, zip, zip fastener

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MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX

@misc{zipper_2026,
  title = {zipper},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/zipper},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}