zapper, n.

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

# zappernoun

## Earlier version

- zapper in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zapper mean?

There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun zapper. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

zapper has developed meanings and uses in subjects including

electronics (1980s) mechanics (1980s) video recording (1980s) television (1980s)

#### Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

### How common is the noun zapper?

About 0.03occurrences per million words in modern written English

2017 | 0.042
2018 | 0.044
2019 | 0.05
2020 | 0.052
2021 | 0.051
2022 | 0.053
2023 | 0.054
2024 | 0.047

### How is the noun zapper pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzapə/
ZAP-uh

#### U.S. English

/ˈzæpər/
ZAP-uhr

### Where does the noun zapper come from?

Earliest known use

1960s

The earliest known use of the noun zapper is in the 1960s.

OED's earliest evidence for zapper is from 1969, in the Guardian.

zapper is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: zap v., ‑er suffix1.

### Nearby entries

1. Zapata, n. 1962–
2. zapateado, n. 1845–
3. Zapatism, n. 1911–
4. Zapatismo, n. 1913–
5. Zapatist, n. & adj. 1911–
6. Zapatista, n. & adj. 1911–
7. zapote, n. 1842–
8. Zapotec, n. & adj. 1797–
9. zappe, v. c1600
10. zapped, adj. 1962–
11. zapper, n.1969–
12. zapping, n. 1972–
13. zappy, adj. 1969–
14. zaptieh, n. 1869–
15. ZAPU, n. 1961–
16. Zar, n. 1868–
17. Zarathustrian, adj. & n. 1859–
18. Zarathustrianism, n. 1864–
19. Zarathustric, adj. 1848–
20. Zarathustrism, n. 1871–
21. zaratite, n. 1858–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by derivation.
< zap v. + ‑er suffix1.

## Meaning & use

1. 1969–
   a. A person, technique, etc., that kills or does away with something. b. spec. Any of various devices for destroying or warding off pests; also (properly with capital initial), a proprietary name in the U.S. for an agricultural machine of this kind.
   1. 1969

      > The United States colonel who formerly commanded them.. is now busy evolving a ‘zapper’ technique for scything down nippa palm groves where Vietcong are reported to be hiding with direct fire artillery.

      Guardian 27 May 8/5
   2. 1970

      > The rat zapper does not work on Saturdays or Sundays, but there were still no rats to be seen there yesterday.

      Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 14 December 3/3
   3. 1973

      > One particularly promising application, making use of small portable zappers, is for greenhouses and other horticultural enterprises where the cost of soil preparation per acre is not an important consideration. For row crops..the self-propelled Zapper is presently economic only when chemical weed-control costs are higher than $15 per acre.

      Scientific American September 74/2
   4. 1975

      > Zapper. For agricultural machine which employs microwaves to control vegetation and vegetation damaging pests.

      Official Gazette (U.S. Patent Office) 25 March tm271/2
   5. 1976

      > The general message is that although various alternatives are promising, there is no magic ‘insect zapper’, as Kennedy put it, to replace chemical poisons in the near future.

      Nature 12 February 441/1
   6. 1977

      > How many bugs do zappers zap?

      Globe & Mail (Toronto) 30 July 4/1
   7. 1983

      > 1 acre bug zapper. $59·97. 35 watt ultraviolet fluorescent bulb has an effective range up to 1 acre for outdoor comfort.

      Monitor (McAllen, Texas) 23 June 10c(advertisement)
   1. bane Old English–1647
      That which causes death, or destroys life.
   2. queller Old English–1866
      A person who kills someone; (sometimes) spec. an executioner. Obsolete (archaic in later use).
   3. quelmer Old English–1500
      A killer, a murderer.
   4. murderer 1340–
      A person who murders another; a person guilty of murder.
   5. slaughterman a1350–
      One who kills or slays; an executioner.
   6. slayer c1380–
      One who slays or kills. Also in figurative context.
   7. killer 1535–
      One who or that which kills; a slayer, butcher.
   8. dispatcher 1549–
      One who or that which dispatches, in various senses: see the verb. spec. (a) North American = train dispatcher, n.; (b) (see quot. 1954).
   9. executioner 1597–
      transferred and figurative. One who puts another to death.
   10. slaughterer?1611–
       One who slaughters or kills.
   11. widowmaker a1616–
       (A name or nickname for) a person who or thing which kills, or is associated with killing or causing fatalities.
   12. mactator 1656
       A killer or murderer.
   13. zapper 1969–
       a. A person, technique, etc., that kills or does away with something. b. spec. Any of various devices for destroying or warding off pests; also…
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. hopperdozer 1877–
      A contrivance for catching and destroying insects, consisting essentially of an elongated pen or frame which is filled or smeared with some…
   2. hexachlorethane 1898–
      A toxic crystalline compound, Cl3C·CCl3, having uses as an insecticide and anthelmintic and as an ingredient in smoke-producing mixtures.
   3. bug dope 1904–
      Insecticide or insect repellent; cf. bug juice, n. 2.
   4. bug chaser 1917–
      North American colloquial. A substance or device used to deter, control, or kill insects and other bugs (bug, n.² I.1); an insect repellent; an…
   5. zapper 1969–
      a. A person, technique, etc., that kills or does away with something. b. spec. Any of various devices for destroying or warding off pests; also…
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. extinguisher 1562–
      One who or that which extinguishes; spec. = fire extinguisher, n.
   2. expunger c1611–
      One who expunges, or seeks to expunge.
   3. exterminator 1611–
      One who or that which exterminates, destroys, or puts an end to.
   4. annihilator 1666–
      A person who or thing which annihilates someone or something (in various senses of the verb). Frequently with of.
   5. decreator 1678
      One who uncreates or annihilates.
   6. blotter out 1827–
      One who, or that which, blots. blotter out: a quencher, extinguisher, annihilator.
   7. exterminatrix 1880–
      = exterminatress, n.
   8. exterminatress 1891–
      A female exterminator.
   9. liquidator 1949–
      A person who implements a policy of liquidation. Cf. liquidate, v. 7.
   10. zapper 1969–
       a. A person, technique, etc., that kills or does away with something. b. spec. Any of various devices for destroying or warding off pests; also…
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. eliminator 1847–
      A person who or thing which eliminates someone or something. Frequently as the second element of compounds. Now also euphemistic: a professional…
   2. zapper 1969–
      a. A person, technique, etc., that kills or does away with something. b. spec. Any of various devices for destroying or warding off pests; also…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

### Additional sense (1993)

1. 1. 1984–
      The remote-control unit for a piece of electronic equipment, esp. a television or video recorder. Cf. zap v. II.8. slang (originally U.S.).
      1. 1984

         > The machine can automatically activate a switching device that does anything from switch the channel to turn off the TV... It may be a year before his hybrid zapper is on the market.

         Adweek (U.S.) 30 January (Eastern edition) 50/2
      2. 1987

         > Hit the zapper, Maude. Maybe there's some bowling on another channel.

         Los Angeles Times 5 February iii. 10/1
      3. 1990

         > BSB comes onto the screen when you select it, using just the one remote zapper.

         What Satellite July 123/1
      electronics mechanics video recording television U.S. English colloquial and slang
      1. play 1978–
         The control on a tape player, video recorder, etc., used to initiate playing.
      2. zapper 1984–
         The remote-control unit for a piece of electronic equipment, esp. a television or video recorder. Cf. zap, v. II.8. slang (originally U.S.).
      View in Historical Thesaurus
      1. channel changer 1955–
         A remote control for a television.
      2. zapper 1984–
         The remote-control unit for a piece of electronic equipment, esp. a television or video recorder. Cf. zap, v. II.8. slang (originally U.S.).
      3. channel zapper 1985–
         A remote-control device for a television. Cf. zapper, n. additions.
      View in Historical Thesaurus
      1. brain-box 1876–
         A control centre; (also) a part of a machine or device that controls its operation. Cf. nerve centre, n.
      2. control box 1878–
         a. A box containing the mechanism or device by which something (esp. electrical or radio signals) may be regulated and controlled within a system…
      3. control panel 1902–
         A board or panel incorporating controls for the operation of a machine or appliance.
      4. panel board 1905–
         A panel on which switches, gauges, etc., are mounted for the remote control or monitoring of equipment; a control panel.
      5. board 1940–
         Any (usually rectangular) flat piece of rigid material, or an assembly of several such pieces, to which are attached controls, switches, etc…
      6. console 1944–
         A desk, cabinet, or the like, incorporating switches, dials, etc., for the control of electrical or other apparatus; a control panel; a switchboard…
      7. touch panel 1957–
         A control panel consisting of a smooth plate having a number of demarcated areas that function as controls when touched; (also) a touchpad.
      8. keypad 1966–
         A small panel of keys or set of buttons for operating a device such as a mobile phone, remote control, or calculator.
      9. console 1976–
         = games console, n.
      10. pad 1976–
          = keypad, n.
      11. games console 1977–
          A device on to which video games can be loaded and played, (originally) one requiring connection to a television, (in later use also) a small…
      12. zapper 1984–
          The remote-control unit for a piece of electronic equipment, esp. a television or video recorder. Cf. zap, v. II.8. slang (originally U.S.).
      View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzapə/
ZAP-uh

### U.S. English

/ˈzæpər/
ZAP-uhr

####

##### 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 /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

##### 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 /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.

##### 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

zapper typically occurs about 0.03 times per million words in modern written English.

zapper 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 zapper, n., 1960–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1960 | 0.016
1970 | 0.022
1980 | 0.025
1990 | 0.025
2000 | 0.03
2010 | 0.037

### Frequency of zapper, n., 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 | 0.042
2018 | 0.044
2019 | 0.05
2020 | 0.052
2021 | 0.051
2022 | 0.053
2023 | 0.054
2024 | 0.047

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. channel zapper, n. 1985–
   A person who (habitually) changes frequently…

zapper, n. was first published in 1986; not fully revised.

zapper, n. was last modified in June 2024.