English

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Etymology

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zizz +‎ -y

Adjective

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zizzy (comparative more zizzy, superlative most zizzy)

  1. (informal) Zazzy; flashy; eye-catching.
    • 1973, Punch:
      The irrepressible and arguably irredeemable Al Capp, an expansive, mature and very regular citizen from New Haven, Connecticut, is a man with a facility for open, cynical wise-cracks, a man who knows a zizzy pin-stripe when he sees one []
    • 1988, The Listener:
      How did you write a zizzy tabloid head in ten minutes from what they did have in the box?
    • 2012, Wendy Perriam, Born of Woman:
      A week ago, she had daubed them all with body paint—Hugh and Robert red with spots, even the solemn Charles a zizzy green.
  2. (informal) Tingling.
    • 1998, Myra Schneider, John Killick, Writing for self-discovery:
      There's a zizzy feeling, prickles in my fingers and toes and a sudden blackness with whorls of light. When I come to Aunt is leaning over me, her ear next to my heart and her fat hot fingers loosening the buttons at the collar of my dress.
    • 2012, Richard Ford, The Lay of the Land:
      I go to the window again in my terry-cloth robe, my heart pumping, a zizzy bee-sting quiver down my arms and legs, my bare feet cold on the floor planks.