zap

noun

1. 1

   A sound made by a sudden release of electricity or some similar energy.

2. 2

   An electric shock.

   You might feel a little zap touching a metal doorknob when the air is dry.

3. 3

   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.

   When a zap at Brooklyn's Board of Education opened no dialogue on discrimination suffered by gay teachers, GAA targeted the BOE offices on April 13.

4. 4

   slangThe 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

1. 1

   To make a zap sound.

2. 2

   To use a remote control to repeatedly fast-forward or change channels on a television.

3. 3

   To strike (something or someone) with electricity or energy, as by shooting.

   They spent the whole movie zapping bad guys into oblivion.

4. 4

   slangTo kill; to eliminate.

   Says a U. S. officer: "We zapped the enemy, now we intend to stick around. […]

5. 5

   slangTo do away with something.

6. 6

   slangTo enliven.

7. 7

   slangTo move or transport (something) in a brief time frame.

8. 8

   slangTo damage (especially electronics) with electrostatic discharge.

   I think they zapped the processor.

9. 9

   slangTo heat (something) in a microwave oven.

   If it's not warm in the middle, zap it some more.

10. 10

    slangTo delete or discard (electronic media).

    They zapped a lot of files before realizing they had not backed up lately.

11. 11

    slangTo further energize or charge (magnetic material).

    They zapped my motor's magnets.

12. 12

    informalTo photocopy.

    Got to go and zap this document now.

13. 13

    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

1. 1

   Representing the sound or action of a zap.

   Then the computer went zap and I lost all my work.

   Zap is a comic-book hero - Zap! Powie! Kazoom!; why have you retired, Zap, when we need you so much?

Forms

plural

zaps

past tense

zapped

past participle

zapped

present participle

zapping

third person singular

zaps