Wiktionary

zapper

English edit

Etymology edit

zap +‎ -er

Pronunciation edit

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

Noun edit

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 edit

French edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from English zap.

Pronunciation edit

Verb edit

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 edit

Conjugation of zapper (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple zapper
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple zappant
/za.pɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
past participle zappé
/za.pe/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses) 		present zappe
/zap/ 		zappes
/zap/ 		zappe
/zap/ 		zappons
/za.pɔ̃/ 		zappez
/za.pe/ 		zappent
/zap/
imperfect zappais
/za.pɛ/ 		zappais
/za.pɛ/ 		zappait
/za.pɛ/ 		zappions
/za.pjɔ̃/ 		zappiez
/za.pje/ 		zappaient
/za.pɛ/
past historic2 zappai
/za.pe/ 		zappas
/za.pa/ 		zappa
/za.pa/ 		zappâmes
/za.pam/ 		zappâtes
/za.pat/ 		zappèrent
/za.pɛʁ/
future zapperai
/za.pʁe/ 		zapperas
/za.pʁa/ 		zappera
/za.pʁa/ 		zapperons
/za.pʁɔ̃/ 		zapperez
/za.pʁe/ 		zapperont
/za.pʁɔ̃/
conditional zapperais
/za.pʁɛ/ 		zapperais
/za.pʁɛ/ 		zapperait
/za.pʁɛ/ 		zapperions
/za.pə.ʁjɔ̃/ 		zapperiez
/za.pə.ʁje/ 		zapperaient
/za.pʁɛ/
(compound
tenses) 		present perfect present indicative of avoir + past participle
pluperfect imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
past anterior2 past historic of avoir + past participle
future perfect future of avoir + past participle
conditional perfect conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive que je (j’) que tu qu’il, qu’elle que nous que vous qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple
tenses) 		present zappe
/zap/ 		zappes
/zap/ 		zappe
/zap/ 		zappions
/za.pjɔ̃/ 		zappiez
/za.pje/ 		zappent
/zap/
imperfect2 zappasse
/za.pas/ 		zappasses
/za.pas/ 		zappât
/za.pa/ 		zappassions
/za.pa.sjɔ̃/ 		zappassiez
/za.pa.sje/ 		zappassent
/za.pas/
(compound
tenses) 		past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — zappe
/zap/ 		— zappons
/za.pɔ̃/ 		zappez
/za.pe/ 		—
compound — simple imperative of avoir + past participle — simple imperative of avoir + past participle simple imperative of avoir + past participle —
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
  • past historic → present perfect
  • past anterior → pluperfect
  • imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive
  • pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive

(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Further reading edit

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