zigzag (plural zigzags)

1. a line or path that proceeds by sharp turns in alternating directions
2. one of such sharp turns

• French: zigzag
• German: Zickzack
• Italian: zigzag
• Portuguese: ziguezague
• Russian: зигза́г
• Spanish: zigzag

zigzag (not comparable)

1. move#Verb|Moving in, or having a zigzag.
   • 1820, Walter Scott, chapter II, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. [...] In Three Volumes, volume II, Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], OCLC 230694662 ↗, page 20 ↗:

     The entrance to this ancient place of devotion was under a very low round arch, ornamented by several courses of that zig-zag moulding, resembling shark's teeth, which appears so often in the more ancient Saxon churches.

   • 1855, Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South (Gaskell novel), London: Chapman & Hall, Volume 2, Chapter 6, pp. 78-79,

     His thoughts were fixed on one subject, and it was an effort to him to follow the zigzag remarks of his children—an effort which he did not make.

   • 1912 January, Zane Grey, “Surprise Valley”, in Riders of the Purple Sage: A Novel, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, OCLC 6868219 ↗, page 102 ↗:

     Then he addressed a keen-sighted, remembering gaze to the rim-wall above. It was serrated, and between two spears of rock, directly in line with his position, showed a zigzag crack that at night would let through the gleam of sky.

• Portuguese: ziguezagueante
• Spanish: en zigzag

zigzag (zigzags, present participle zigzagging; past and past participle zigzagged)

1. To move or to twist in a zigzag manner.
   • 1912 January, Zane Grey, “Surprise Valley”, in Riders of the Purple Sage: A Novel, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, OCLC 6868219 ↗, page 98 ↗:

     At the base this vent was dark, cool, and smelled of dry, musty dust. It zigzagged so that he could not see ahead more than a few yards at a time.

   • 2002, Malcolm Yorke, Mervyn Peake: My Eyes Mint Gold: A Life, page 298:

     If the first two novels created a new genre — Peakean fantasy — then this third volume zigzags between several: the Bildungsroman, science fiction, social satire, morality tale and dystopian prophecy.

   Synonyms: zig and zag

• French: zigzaguer
• Portuguese: ziguezaguear
• Russian: идти́ зигза́гом
• Spanish: zigzaguear

zigzag

1. in a zigzag manner or pattern

• German: zickzack
• Portuguese: ziguezagueando, em ziguezague
• Russian: зигза́г
• Spanish: en zigzag

1. A small town in Oregon