Zigzag
['zɪgzæg] or ['zɪɡzæɡ]
Definition
(noun.) an angular shape characterized by sharp turns in alternating directions.
(verb.) travel along a zigzag path; 'The river zigzags through the countryside'.
(adj.) having short sharp turns or angles .
(adv.) in a zigzag course or on a zigzag path; 'birds flew zigzag across the blue sky'.
Editor: Pierre--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Something that has short turns or angles.
(n.) A molding running in a zigzag line; a chevron, or series of chevrons. See Illust. of Chevron, 3.
(n.) See Boyau.
(a.) Having short, sharp turns; running this way and that in an onward course.
(v. t.) To form with short turns.
(v. i.) To move in a zigzag manner; also, to have a zigzag shape.
Editor: Noreen
Definition
n. a short sharp turning.—adj. having short sharp turns bent from side to side.—v.t. to form with short turns:—pr.p. zig′zagging; pa.p. zig′zagged.—adv. with frequent sharp turns—also Zig′zaggy.—n. Zigzag′gery angular crookedness.—adj. Zig′zaggy zigzag.
Typed by Judy
Unserious Contents or Definition
v.t. To move forward uncertainly from side to side as one carrying the white man's burden. (From zed z and jag an Icelandic word of unknown meaning.)
Inputed by Angie
Unserious Contents or Definition
The popular route after a heavy dinner. Old adage, 'The longest way round is the drunkard's way home!'
Edited by Clio
Examples
- He replaced the recording pencil with a fountain pen, and instead of the zigzag signals used the short and long lines that came to be called dots and dashes. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- Andreu Nin was in the first zigzag belt of wire. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- On being released the pendulum would return, and in this way zigzag markings, as shown at 4 and 5, would be produced on the strip of paper, which formed the alphabet. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- This siphon is vibrated by the electric impulses to produce on the paper strip a zigzag line, whose varying contour is made to represent letters. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- The road, said to have been built by Cortez, zigzags around the mountain-side and was defended at every turn by artillery. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- Two or three lamps were rained out and blown out; so, both saw the lightning to advantage as it quivered and zigzagged on the iron tracks. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- On the east side the slope is much more gradual, and a good wagon road, zigzagging up it, connects the town of Chattanooga with the summit. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
Edited by Fergus