Zippo

See also: zippo and zippò

English

Etymology

Trade name for lighters, established in the 1930s.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

Zippo (plural Zippos)

1. A reusable lighter.
   • 1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 5, in The Crying of Lot 49, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, page 84:

     He was about to make the farewell flick of the wheel on his faithful Zippo, which had seen him through the Normany hedgerows, the Ardennes, Germany, and postwar America, when he heard a key in the front door, and voices.

2. (military, slang) A boat, tank, etc. equipped with flamethrowers.

Verb

Zippo (third-person singular simple present Zippos, present participle Zippoing, simple past and past participle Zippoed)

1. Alternative spelling of zippo