Zippo

proprietary name of a brand of cigarette lighter, patented 1934 by Zippo Manufacturing Co., Bradford, Pa.

Examples from the web for zippo
  • In every movie, one or two characters have a zippo lighter mr.
Slang definitions & phrases for zippo

zip 1

noun
  1. A mark or grade of zero
  2. Zero; nothing; a score of zero; zilch: People aren't exactly beating down the doors to buy California port. ''The market is zip, zero, and not too much''/ dipped into your moneybag and found zippo
Related Terms

not give a damn, not know beans

[1900+ Students; like zilch, probably coined from a familiar word beginning with z]


zip 2

noun

Energy; vitality; vim; pizzazz, zing: There is a zip and a zing here/ bounced back with the real zippo

[1900+; echoic of the sound of something swishing rapidly through the air, giving an impression of force, and also of the tearing of cloth; such a use is attested fr 1875]


zippo

verb

To set something on fire; ignite something

[1970s+ Army; fr Zippo, trademark of a cigarette lighter, probably fr the sound made as one turns the sparking wheel, and the speed with which the lighter ignites]