zipper

Word History: Trademark laws exist to prevent the appropriation of words like zipper. Registered in 1925, zipper was originally a B.F. Goodrich trademark for overshoes with fasteners. A Goodrich executive is said to have slid the fastener up and down on the boot and exclaimed, "Zip 'er up," echoing the sound made by this clever device. Zip already existed as both a noun and verb referring to a light sharp sound or to motion accompanied by that kind of sound (zip was first recorded as a noun in 1875; as a verb, in 1852). Both words were imitations of the sound made by a rapidly moving object. As the fastener that "zipped" came to be used in other articles, its name was used as well. B.F. Goodrich sued to protect its trademark but was allowed to retain proprietary rights only over Zipper Boots. Zipper itself had moved into the world of common nouns.

1. n.
   nothing. : There was no mail today. Nothing. Zip.
2. n.
   a score or grade of zero. : Well, you got zip on the last test. Sorry about that.
3. n.
   vigor; spunk. : Put some zip into it. It's too ho-hum.
4. in.
   to move to a place fast. : I'll zip to the office and get a new form.
5. n.
   a worthless person; a person who amounts to zero. : Garth is such a zip. No brains in his head at all.
6. n.
   an ounce of a drug. : How much for a zip of hash.
7. n.
   cocaine. : He's freezing his nose with zip nearly every night.