zip fastener, n.

zip-fastener
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zip-fastener_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2021

# zip fastenernoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zip fastener mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zip fastener. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the noun zip fastener?

About 0.02occurrences per million words in modern written English

1920 | 0.018
1930 | 0.02
1940 | 0.02
1950 | 0.02
1960 | 0.022
1970 | 0.022
1980 | 0.02
1990 | 0.017
2000 | 0.015
2010 | 0.013

### Where does the noun zip fastener come from?

Earliest known use

1920s

The earliest known use of the noun zip fastener is in the 1920s.

OED's earliest evidence for zip fastener is from 1925, in the Gettysburg Times (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania).

### Nearby entries

1. zip, int. & n.¹ 1678–
2. zip-a-dee-doo-dah, int. & adj. 1945–
3. zip code, n. 1962–
4. zip-code, v. 1962–
5. zip-coded, adj. 1963–
6. zip-coding, n. 1964–
7. zip coon, n. 1833–
8. zip cuff, n. 1995–
9. zip cuff, v. 1996–
10. Zipf, n. 1936–
11. zip fastener, n.1925–
12. zip fastening, n. & adj. 1925–
13. zip gun, n. 1914–
14. Ziph, n. 1834–
15. ziphian, n. & adj. 1896
16. ziphiiform, adj. 1891
17. ziphioid, adj. & n. 1861–
18. zipless, adj. 1922–
19. zip line, n. 1970–
20. zip line, v. 1998–
21. zipliner, n. 1993–

## Meaning & use

1. 1925–
   A fastening device for clothes, bags, and other items, consisting of two flexible strips with interlocking projections of metal or plastic which can be closed or opened by pulling a sliding tag along them; = zip n.1 B.2.
   1. 1925

      > 1 Did anyone tell you that ‘ZIPPERS’ are not being made? 2 Did anyone tell you that the patent ZIP fastener would wear out?

      Gettysburg (Pennsylvania) Times 24 January 2 (advertisement)
   2. 1973

      > He stumbled down the nearest alleyway..fumbling as he went for the zip-fastener on his fly.

      A. Price, October Men vii. 95
   3. 2000

      > There are two roomy end pockets and a deep front compartment—all with tough alloy zip fasteners.

      Watermark Catalogue (RNLI) Christmas 43/2
   building
   1. zipper 1924–
      Chiefly North American. A fastening device for clothes, bags, and other items, consisting of two flexible strips with interlocking projections of…
   2. zip 1925–
      A fastening device for clothes, bags, and other items, consisting of two flexible strips with interlocking projections of metal or plastic which…
   3. zip fastener 1925–
      A fastening device for clothes, bags, and other items, consisting of two flexible strips with interlocking projections of metal or plastic which…
   4. zip fastening 1925–
      a. n. A fastening device for clothes, bags, and other items, consisting of two flexible strips with interlocking projections of metal or plastic…
   5. zip top 1926–
      A zip at the top of a bag or other item; a top that can be opened or closed by means of a zip.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zip fastener typically occurs about 0.02 times per million words in modern written English.

zip fastener is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 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 zip fastener, n., 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 | 0.018
1930 | 0.02
1940 | 0.02
1950 | 0.02
1960 | 0.022
1970 | 0.022
1980 | 0.02
1990 | 0.017
2000 | 0.015
2010 | 0.013

Originally published as part of the entry for zip, int. & n.¹

zip, int. & n.¹ was revised in March 2021.