zigzaggedly, adv.

zigzaggedly
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zigzaggedly_adv%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1986; not fully revised

# zigzaggedlyadverb

## Factsheet

### Where does the adverb zigzaggedly come from?

Earliest known use

1920s

The earliest known use of the adverb zigzaggedly is in the 1920s.

OED's earliest evidence for zigzaggedly is from 1921, in the writing of Walter de la Mare, poet and writer.

### How common is the adverb zigzaggedly?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1920 | 0.0003
1930 | 0.0004
1940 | 0.0004
1950 | 0.0004
1960 | 0.0003
1970 | 0.0003
1980 | 0.0003
1990 | 0.0003
2000 | 0.0003
2010 | 0.0002

### Nearby entries

1. zig, n. 1978–
2. zig, v. 1969–
3. Zigeuner, n. & adj. 1802–
4. Zigeunerin, n. 1845–83
5. ziggety, int., adj., & adv. 1924–
6. ziggurat, n. 1873–
7. zigzag, n., adj., & adv. 1712–
8. zigzag, v. 1777–
9. zigzag connection, n. 1922–
10. zigzagged, adj. 1774–
11. zigzaggedly, adv.1921–
12. zigzaggery, n. 1761–
13. zigzaggy, adj. a1845–
14. zigzag machine, n. 1952–
15. zigzag trefoil, n. 1796–
16. zig-zig, n. 1918–
17. Zika, n. 1952–
18. Zilavka, n. 1926–
19. zilch, n. & adj. 1925–
20. zilch, v. 1957–
21. zill, n. 1754–

## Meaning & use

1. 1921–
   See zigzagged adj.
   Stressed as ˈzigzaggedly.
   1. 1921

      > How zigzaggedly you talk. What has poetry to do with Mr Crimble?

      W. de la Mare, Memoirs of Midget xxxiii. 230
   2. 1977

      > It [sc. a ball] rolled zigzaggedly for a while.

      R. Katz, Ziggurat vi. 55
   1. about Old English–
      In rotation or revolution; round in a circular course. Now rare except in figurative use with verbs.
   2. abouts a1387–
      = about, adv. (in various senses). Cf. nearabouts, adv.
   3. windingly 1626
      In a winding or meandering manner; with twists and turns.
   4. zigzag 1754–
      In a zigzag manner or direction.
   5. mazily 1845–
      In a confused or convoluted manner; as if in a maze.
   6. zag 1906–
      Used to express a movement or direction inclined at an angle to that indicated by zig, v.
   7. zigzaggedly 1921–
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. disjointly 1621–
      Disjointedly, disconnectedly. rare.
   2. disjointedly 1633–
   3. ramblingly a1641–
      In a rambling manner.
   4. unconnectedly 1778–
      In an unconnected manner; disconnectedly.
   5. disconnectedly 1807–
   6. zigzaggedly 1921–
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zigzaggedly typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zigzaggedly is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zigzaggedly, adv., 1920–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1920 | 0.0003
1930 | 0.0004
1940 | 0.0004
1950 | 0.0004
1960 | 0.0003
1970 | 0.0003
1980 | 0.0003
1990 | 0.0003
2000 | 0.0003
2010 | 0.0002

Originally published as part of the entry for zigzagged, adj.

zigzagged, adj. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.