ziphttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zip_n2%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_usezip, n.² & adj.
Revised 2021

zipnoun2 & adjective

colloquial (originally U.S.).
  1. noun
    1. 1900–
      Nothing at all, zero; (in negative constructions) anything at all; the least thing. Cf. zilch n.
      1. 1900
        Zip, n., a zero in marks.
        Dialect Notes vol. 2 70
      2. 1972
        Before this, neither one of us had known zip about stocks and bonds.
        D. E. Westlake, Cops & Robbers (1973) viii. 111
      3. 1980
        But do away with all the frontal stuff and close-ups, you don't have zip.
        R. S. Hopkins, Riviera xxvii. 196
      4. 2001
        Under the plan, the 400 richest multimillionaires will receive tax breaks worth an average of $1 million a year. The poorest working families will get zip.
        Nation (New York) 4 June 3/1
      5. 2018
        Jurgen Klopp has won nothing with Liverpool. Nought, nil, nada, zero, zilch, zip.
        Daily Mirror (Nexis) 14 October 12
  2. adjective
    (in attributive use).
    1. 1969–
      Absolutely no; not any. Cf. zilch adj. B.2.
      1. 1969
        A five minute stretch when Detroit scored a total of zip points while Philadelphia was scoffing up 14 in a row.
        Ludington (Michigan) Daily News 6 January 5/5
      2. 1999
        More than six of 10 pastoralists in the drought-stricken outback lands..are not going to make it in the long term... ‘It could rain three inches of rain and the price of wool could double and it would make zip impact because so many are so heavily in debt.’
        Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 8 June (Late edition) 7
      3. 2013
        There is no evidence, zero, zip evidence that modifying plants by molecular techniques has special dangers associated with it.
        Greenwire (Nexis) 20 February

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

zip, n.² & adj. was revised in March 2021.

zip, n.² & adj. was last modified in July 2023.