zing

See also: zîng

English

Etymology

Of onomatopoeic origin.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: zĭng; IPA^(key): /zɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪŋ

Noun

zing (countable and uncountable, plural zings)

1. A short high-pitched humming sound, such as that made by a bullet or vibrating string.
   • 1998 March 15, Edward E. Leslie, Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls, Mariner Books, →ISBN, →OL, page 387:

     I heard a zing close to my head and looked up again. Five or six men were lined up on the deck above me with rifles shooting at the shark.

2. (slang) A witty insult or derogatory remark.
3. (uncountable) Zest or vitality.
   • 2006 May 25, Melinda Houston, “European Bier Cafe - Bar Reviews”, in The Age‎:

     To accompany a meal, the fresh Italian lager Poretti is perfect; Erdinger Weisbier, a wheat beer from Germany, is full of zing;

4. (uncountable, slang) Pleasant or exciting flavour of food.

Derived terms

• zingless

Translations

a short high-pitched humming sound

Finnish: suhahdus (fi), surahdus Polish: świst (pl) m Spanish: zumbido (es) m, silbido (es) m

zest or vitality

Czech: elán m, verva (cs) f, nadšení (cs) n Dutch: pit (nl) m Finnish: säpinä French: sève (fr), vitalité (fr) Polish: energia (pl) f, wigor (pl) m Spanish: brío (es) m

Verb

zing (third-person singular simple present zings, present participle zinging, simple past and past participle zinged)

1. (intransitive) To move very quickly, especially while making a high-pitched hum.
   • 2000, Nick Nelson, The Golden Vortex, Conscious Publishing, →ISBN, →OL, page 89:

     We are all a second or two older than an astronaut who has been zinging around the Earth at 18000 miles per hour, because of his or her greater speed and the lack of gravity.

   • 2005, Donald Hall, The Best Day the Worst Day: Life with Jane Kenyon, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, page 101:

     When the caller identified herself as from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle my heart zinged. I heard the words we had yearned for since March: They had found a donor marrow, mismatched at one antigen, that might work for Jane.

2. (transitive, slang) To address a witty insult or comeback to.
   • 2004, Intelligent Systems, translated by Nintendo of America, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Nintendo, GameCube, level/area: Rogueport:

     Goomba: Ouch that was cold!
     Paragoomba: “What, you’re too good for us? Come off it, sister!
     Spike Goomba: “Nobody zings us like that! Nobody! Let’s get ’em!”

Derived terms

• zinger
• zingingly

Interjection

zing

1. (onomatopoeia) A high pitched humming sound.
   • 1934, “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart”, James F. Hanley (music):

     Something inside of me started a symphony / Zing! Went the strings of my heart

2. (US, slang) Used to acknowledge a witty comeback, a zinger.
   • 2002, Chellie Campbell, The Wealthy Spirit, Sourcebooks, →ISBN, →OL, page 162:

     Zing! The joke had rebounded back on the one who started it. "Ouch!" Mama Jane winced ruefully. We all dissolved in laughter at the good-natured repartee.

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪŋ
• IPA^(key): /zɪŋ/

Verb

zing

1. inflection of zingen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

Iu Mien

Noun

zing

1. eye