zing

plural zings

1. countableuncountableA short high-pitched humming sound, such as that made by a bullet or vibrating string.

   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.

   1998 March 15, Edward E. Leslie, Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls, Mariner Books, →ISBN, →OL, page 387

   1 more example

   He listened to the zing and echo on the line, the chatter of distant operators, the patches of Morse from aircraft and ships at sea, quickly suppressed.

   1954, Ian Fleming, “True or False?”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 87

2. countableslanguncountableA witty insult or derogatory remark.
3. uncountableZest or vitality.

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

   2006 May 25, Melinda Houston, “European Bier Cafe - Bar Reviews”, in The Age

4. slanguncountablePleasant or exciting flavour of food.

present singular third person zings · participle present zinging · participle past zinged · past zinged

1. intransitiveTo move very quickly, especially while making a high-pitched hum.

   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.

   2000, Nick Nelson, The Golden Vortex, Conscious Publishing, →ISBN, →OL, page 89

   1 more example

   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.

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

2. slangtransitiveTo address a witty insult or comeback to.

   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!”

   2004, Intelligent Systems, translated by Nintendo of America, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Nintendo, GameCube, level/area: Rogueport

3. To make a zinging noise or sound.

   Outside, the crickets and the tree-frogs started to zing and tinkle and the great hawkmoths came to the wire-netting across the windows and clutched it, gazing with trembling ecstasy at the two oil lamps that hung from the cross-beams inside.

   1954, Ian Fleming, “The Undertaker's Wind”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 186

1. onomatopoeicA high pitched humming sound.

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

   1934, “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart”, James F. Hanley (music)

2. USslangUsed to acknowledge a witty comeback, a zinger.

   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.

   2002, Chellie Campbell, The Wealthy Spirit, Sourcebooks, →ISBN, →OL, page 162