zip-tieverb
Factsheet
What does the verb zip-tie mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the verb zip-tie. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
This word is used in U.S. English.
How common is the verb zip-tie?
| 2017 | 0.018 |
| 2018 | 0.018 |
| 2019 | 0.019 |
| 2020 | 0.024 |
| 2021 | 0.026 |
| 2022 | 0.028 |
| 2023 | 0.031 |
| 2024 | 0.032 |
How is the verb zip-tie pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the verb zip-tie come from?
Earliest known use
1980s
The earliest known use of the verb zip-tie is in the 1980s.
OED's earliest evidence for zip-tie is from 1985, in Cycle World.
zip-tie is formed within English, by conversion.
Etymons: zip tie n.
Nearby entries
- zipper problem, n.1985–
- Zippie, n.¹1968–
- zippie, n.²1986–
- zippily, adv.1924–
- zippiness, n.1907–
- zipping, n.1868–
- Zippo, n.¹1944–
- zippo, n.²1973–
- zippy, adj.1889–
- zip tie, n.1969–
- zip-tie, v.1985–
- zip top, n.1926–
- zip-up, adj. & n.1927–
- zip wire, n.1971–
- zir, pron.1993–
- zir, adj.1993–
- ziraleet, n.1794–
- ziram, n.1950–
- zirbal, adj.?a1425–
- zirbus, n.a1400–
- zircaloy, n.1953–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1985–transitive. To fasten or secure (something) with a zip tie or zip ties; (often) esp. to bind (a person's wrists or ankles) with a zip tie or zip ties. Cf. zip tie n.
- 1985
The plastic latch was zip-tied for security.
Cycle World January 63/2 (caption) - 2005
When we got these guys we had them sandbagged and zip tied, meaning we had a sandbag on their heads and zip ties..on their hands.
New York Review of Books 3 November 69/2 - 2010
‘Zip tie her hands!’ someone shouted. ‘She'll kill us all.’
L. M. Altom, Baby Twins i. 11
society authority subjection restraint or restraining restraint depriving of liberty binding or fettering [transitive verbs] bind, fetter, or shackle- bindOld English–esp. To make fast (a person) with bonds or fetters; to deprive of personal liberty, make a captive or prisoner.
- i-bindeOld English–1275transitive. To bind.
- to bind hand and footOld English–hand and foot (also hands and feet, foot and hand, feet and hands): at or by the hands and feet, esp. in to bind hand and foot; (more generally…
- umgivea1300–1400transitive. To enclose, surround, environ.
- fastc1300–transitive. To bind, secure, or confine (a person). In later use also (Scottish): to secure or tether (an animal).
- warrok1362–1440transitive. To girth (a horse); to bind (a person). Obsolete.
- hampera1375–transitive. To obstruct the free movement of (a person or animal), by fastening something on, or by material obstacles or entanglements; to…
- bolt1377–1616transitive. To fetter, shackle; also figurative. Obsolete.
- astrainc1425–1594To bind; to put under obligation; to restrain.
- shacklec1440–transitive. To confine with shackles; to put a shackle or shackles on.
- estrain1483transitive. To bind tightly.
- to put in irons1533Having, or so as to have, the hands or feet shackled; in or into shackles or fetters. Frequently in to put in irons: to shackle, to fetter.
- to tie up1570–To tie (a person or animal) to some fixed object or in some confined space, so as to prevent from escaping; to fasten up.
- manacle1582–transitive. More generally: to fetter (legs, etc.); to fasten, secure.
- beshackle1599–
- to tie (also †lay) neck and heels: to confine or bind securely. Also †to lie neck and heels and figurative.
- fillet1633–transitive. To bind with or as with a fillet. †To bind or tie up, to confine or swathe with a bandage (obsolete). Also Surgery. To bandage (a limb).
- kilta1689–To fasten or tie up; to pull or hoist up; to ‘string up’, to hang.
- to tie down1699–literal. To fasten down or confine by tying: see sense 1 and down, adv.
- oblige1718transitive. To fasten or attach closely; to bind, tie up. Obsolete.
- hog-tie1886–transitive. To secure (an animal) by tying all four feet together, or (a person) by tying the hands and feet together.
- zip-tie1985–transitive. To fasten or secure (something) with a zip tie or zip ties; (often) esp. to bind (a person's wrists or ankles) with a zip tie or zip…
the world relative properties wholeness mutual relation of parts to whole fastening binding or tying [transitive verbs] bind or tie bind with cord, string, or tie- tieOld English–transitive. To bind, fasten, make fast (one thing to another, or two or more things together) with a cord, rope, band, or the like, drawn together…
- halchc1400–transitive. To fasten (something); to tie; to knot. Chiefly English regional in later use.
- lacec1405–transitive. To attach or fasten (an object) on or to something else, or in a particular position, by means of a lace or laces; to fasten on (an…
- cable?1507–transitive. To furnish with a cable or cables; to fasten with or as with a cable, to tie up.
- twitch1612–transitive. To draw (something) tight by means of a cord, rope, etc.; to tie or fasten tightly or firmly; (also) to tighten (a cord, etc.). Also figur…
- lash1624–Chiefly Nautical. To fasten or make fast with a cord, rope, thong, piece of twine, etc.; †to truss (clothes); to fasten to (something). Also with down…
- wup1808–transitive. To bind (something) round with cord, thread, etc.
- snub1888–Nautical and U.S. To check or stop (a rope or cable) suddenly while running out; to stop or bring up (a boat, etc.) sharply or suddenly, esp. by…
- zip-tie1985–transitive. To fasten or secure (something) with a zip tie or zip ties; (often) esp. to bind (a person's wrists or ankles) with a zip tie or zip…
Pronunciation
British English
U.S. English
Consonants
- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence
Vowels
- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
View the pronunciation model here.
Consonants
- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye*
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing
* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence
Vowels
- ifleece, happy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- ætrap, bath
- ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
- ɑrstart
- ɔcloth, thought
- ɔrnorth, force
- ʊfoot
- ugoose
- əstrut, comma
- ərnurse, letter
- ɪ(ə)rnear
- ɛ(ə)rsquare
- ʊ(ə)rcure
- eɪface
- aɪpride
- aʊmouth
- oʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ɑ̃gratin
- æ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
View the pronunciation model here.
Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.
Consonants
b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values
- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige
Vowels
- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot
Frequency
zip-tie typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zip-tie is in frequency band 2, which contains words occurring between 0.001 and 0.01 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of zip-tie, v., 1990–2010
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.
The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.
For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.
Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.
| Decade | Frequency per million words |
|---|---|
| 1990 | 0.0032 |
| 2000 | 0.0032 |
| 2010 | 0.0032 |
Frequency of zip-tie, v., 2017–2024
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.
Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the corpus.
| Period | Frequency per million words |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 0.018 |
| 2018 | 0.018 |
| 2019 | 0.019 |
| 2020 | 0.024 |
| 2021 | 0.026 |
| 2022 | 0.028 |
| 2023 | 0.031 |
| 2024 | 0.032 |