zipper

Etymology

It is formed from English zip + -er,^[2][3][4][5] probably as an agent noun from the verb,^[6] and was originally a trademark.^[7][8][5] The American Heritage Dictionary relates that the name was registered in 1925 by B. F. Goodrich for overshoes with fasteners, and that a company executive is said to have run the fastener up and down a boot and cried "Zip 'er up".^[9] The base already existed as a noun (from 1875) and a verb (from 1852) for a light sharp sound or a quick movement with such a sound, both imitative.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A brand name for a boot or overshoe fitted with a zip fastener: 1923, in an advertisement in the Beatrice (Nebraska) Daily Sun.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to 1925, the year of the trademark.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The trademark applied to the boots, not to the fastener itself, which Etymonline finds called a zipper by 1927, and in early use also simply a zip;^[6] the OED, revised in 2021, has the fastener from 1924,^[2] and Merriam-Webster from 1926.^[8] As the fastener spread to other articles, its name went with it;^[9] Goodrich went to court, but kept proprietary rights only over Zipper Boots, and zipper became a common noun.^[9] The verb, to fasten with a zipper, is recorded from 1927,^[2] by 1930 in Etymonline, whose earliest uses are often figurative slang about keeping one's mouth shut;^[6][8] the noun is used in the same way, of the mouth or lips, from 1931.^[2] Later extensions are scientific, of a structure that closes like a zip (1937),^[2] and the long electronic sign with scrolling news, recorded from 1957^[2] and best known from the news ribbon around the building at One Times Square in New York.^[10] Green's Dictionary of Slang separately records American slang zipper, a promiscuous woman, from 1920, perhaps from zip, energy, or from the trouser fastener.^[11]

Timeline

• 1923 – a brand name for a boot or overshoe with a zip fastener (obsolete by 1928).^[2]
• 1924 – the fastener itself.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1926, Etymonline to 1927.^[8][6]
• 1925 – registered as a trademark by B. F. Goodrich.^[9][6]
• 1927 – verb, to close or fasten with a zipper.^[2] Merriam-Webster and Etymonline date the verb to 1930.^[8][6]
• 1931 – figuratively, of the mouth or lips, as a sign that someone should stop talking.^[2]
• 1937 – in science, a structure that works like a zip;^[2] to put the zipper on, to put a stop to something.^[2]
• 1957 – a long electronic sign showing scrolling text.^[2]
• 1966 – put a zipper on it, be quiet.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fastener made of two rows of metal or plastic teeth on strips of tape, closed or opened by a sliding piece that locks or separates the teeth; chiefly North American, called a zip in Britain.^[12][8][2]
2. A long electronic sign or screen on which news or advertisements scroll past; also a band of scrolling text on a television screen.^[2][10]
3. In science, a structure whose action resembles the closing of a zipper.^[2]

Verb

1. To fasten or unfasten with a zipper; to zip: She zippered her jacket against the wind.^[7][8][2]
2. (chiefly North American) To keep one's mouth or lips shut, so as not to talk.^[2]

Word family

• zipperless

Related words

• zip
• unzip

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary gives zipper as an example of the loss that trademark laws try to prevent: a brand name that became a common noun.^[9] In Britain and some other countries the fastener is usually called a zip.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ a b Popik, Barry, The Big Apple, barrypopik.com, p. "Zipper", 12 October 2004
11. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins