Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) an expert, an exemplar.

[1898		St Paul Globe (MN) 17 Jan. n.p.: One of the colored boys, whom Dixey has christened ‘Pizzazzes,’ [...] watches from the audience].
1915		Wichita Daily Times (Wichita Falls, TX) 19 Aug. [headline] ITS NIX ON THE SLANG STUFF FOR GEORGE ADE. Main Pazazz of Quick and Ready Chatter Holds up Wind and Warbles Never Again.
1962		R. Serling ‘The Midnight Sun’ in New Stories from the Twilight Zone 93: Maybe I can find a couple of real pizazz commercials for you.

2. (orig. US, also bezzazz) style, glamour, ostentation; also as v.

1937		N.Y. Times 26 Feb. 3: [advert] this thing called pizazz Pizazz, to quote the Harvard Lampoon and Harpers Bazaar, is an indefinable dynamic quality. Certain clothes have it.
1958		J. Blake letter 11 Feb. in Joint (1972) 114: He looked pretty awful – gaunt, pale, wasted. But the old bezzazz was there, the guy is indomitable.
1963		J. Blake letter 28 Mar. in Joint (1972) 206: Showed it to him, got the old familiar incandescent bezzazz – but there was also a certain reserve.
1966		Sat. Night May 34: [He] mounted a campaign that has had few equals anywhere for sheer pazazz.
1971		Time 31 May 15: A high-rolling state that likes politics with pizazz.
1996		L. Pettiway Honey, Honey, Miss Thang 8: Everything was so glamour and so thrilling [...] It had the kind of pizzazz.
2000		Observer 16 Jan. 15: Some people who pizazz themselves up.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 29: Jack was glib. Jack had pizzazz. Jack had no rectitude.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 95: She’s a Kennedy, so she provides a good deal more pizzazz than most society girls do.

3. energy, zest.

1937		Harper’s Bazaar Mar. 116/2: Pizazz, to quote the editor of the Harvard Lampoon, is an indefinable dynamic quality, the je ne sais quoi of function; as for instance, adding Scotch puts pizazz into a drink .
1952		S. Kauffmann Tightrope 87: Now here’s a few places where I think it could use a little pezazz .
1962		USA-1 I. IV. 30/2: He displayed almost none of the oratorical pizzazz that had set them [i.e. Canadian voters] screaming in 1958 [OED].
1971		New Yorker 28 Aug. 4: Jazz and soul food, soul food and jazz, are thought to generate pizzazz.
1993		T. Jones Pugilist at Rest 72: That’s better, but try and put a little more pizzazz in your delivery!
2000		Indep. on Sun. Culture 23 Jan. 7: Words like ‘verve’, ‘energy’ and ‘pizzazz’ are not those that spring to mind.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 13: I popped two Dexedrine for late-night pizzazz.