zapper

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English

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Etymology

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From zap +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) enPR: zăpʹə(r), IPA(key): /ˈzæp.ə(ɹ)/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -æpə(ɹ)

Noun

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zapper (plural zappers)

  1. (colloquial) A remote control for a television.
    The news is starting on the other channel; hand me the zapper.
  2. (colloquial) A device that electrifies or electrocutes.
    Hyponym: bug zapper
    • 2005, Robert Wood, Pushing Envelopes, page 51:
      Miranda is not the sort of person to carry a zapper but she has an oar that would cause a dog a lot more grief if it caught it full on.
  3. (colloquial, figuratively, by extension) Anything that exterminates.
    • 1989, Microtimes, volume 6, page 140:
      If games are your life, the choice of a joystick is desperately important. Casual alien-zappers can get by with the cheapest generic Taiwanese clone-stick []
    • 2009, Jeffrey Bernstein, Liking the Child You Love:
      You are going to go from being a toxic-thought overreactor to a toxic-thought zapper.
  4. (slang) A microwave oven.
    • 2011, Bob Cohn, To Catch a Catch, page 49:
      I hate to spoil your microwave testimonial, but they were actually cooked in the regular oven this morning and just re-heated in the zapper.

Translations

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French

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English zap.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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zapper

  1. to channel-hop, channel surf
  2. (figuratively) to dither, change one's opinion rapidly, vacillate
  3. to skip over
  4. (informal) to forget

Conjugation

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Further reading

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