Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US milit.) to kill, to defeat.

1942		Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl.
1966		H.S. Thompson Hell’s Angels (1967) 87: They were zapped on the opposite flank.
1967		E. Shepard Doom Pussy 14: Fuck Me Dead. We zapped ’em.
1977		(con. 1965) P. Caputo Rumor of War 258: ‘You’re zapped, you cannon-cockin’ Texas shitkicker, zapped by the world’s greatest jungle fighter. I’m a killer, man, a fuckin’ killer’.
1978		R. Caron Go-Boy! 37: Most of the guys were past masters at the art of diversion [...] whether it was zapping a stoolie or screening a crap game.
1987		(con. 1967) E. Spencer Welcome to Vietnam (1989) 157: Let him see it [i.e.a grenade], then zap him.
1999		Observer Mag. 1 Aug. 47: Antibiotics, which unfortunately zap the good bacteria in their quest to kill the bad bugs.
2005		L. Theroux Call of the Weird (2006) 13: He claimed to have killed ten aliens himself — zapped them with the mutilator gun.

2. (US black) to move quickly.

1967		H.S. Thompson letter 13 July in Proud Highway (1997) 631: I could zap over there pretty soon.
1970		New Yorker 19 Sept. 131: She zapped up an incubator for him.
1989		R.G. Barrett Boys from Binjiwunyawunya 60: We’ll just have time to pick up your friends and zap straight out again.
1992		D. Jarman diary 2 June Smiling in Slow Motion (2000) 136: Emma Freud zapped past on her way to the hairdresser’s.

3. to attack, to criticize.

1967		H.S. Thompson letter 2 Oct. in Proud Highway (1997) 640: I can’t work up much of an appetite for zapping them.
1972		Sat. Rev. (US) 12 Feb. 24: They have also made it a practice to ‘trash’ restaurants, publishing houses and other businesses that discriminate against the third world of sex; ‘dump on’ (heckle) religious leaders [...] who don’t like them; and ‘zap’ (confront) politicians.
1979		G. Swarthout Skeletons 149: I hate to zap you, Doc, but I have to.
1991		D. Jarman letter 7 June Smiling in Slow Motion (2000) 14: It was decided to zap the Isle of Man – as it’s still illegal to be queer there.
2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 28: I won’t even zap ’em, I’ll gently move them over, knowmean.

4. (US campus) to fail someone in a test or examination.

1996

Eble Sl. and Sociability 40: Some sounds appear to give words a slangier flavor – most noticeably z in words like [...] zap from slap or whap.

5. to overwhelm emotionally; to shock, to alarm.

1969		R.R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z (1970) 252: zap [...] to (symbolically) defeat someone, as in ‘I zapped him with love.’.
1971		R.D. Pharr S.R.O. (1998) 128: When I found out that the one solace I had had was not even in the Bible I was really zapped.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 65: Lady Cynthia who zapped him with her zillion-dollar smile .
1997		C. Hiaasen Lucky You 316: JoLayne Lucks whipped off her sunglasses and zapped him with a smile.
2002		Fabian & Byrne Out of Time (ms.) 42: I stared back at him, trying to zap him with my vibes.

6. to send, to put or to hit forcefully; also fig. use.

1966		Current Sl. I:2 6/2: Zap, v. To slap.
1967		(con. 1950s) McAleer & Dickson Unit Pride (1981) 81: We still hadn’t hit on a surefire method. Then it zapped me.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 102: You watch those linebackers zap the quarterback and you don’t have to go around acting out.
1989		B. Simon ‘Score Me the Ages’ Born in the RSA (1997) 139: Oh that prick [...] he pulls your wire for five minutes and zaps you a tin of dog food, man.
1994		G. Indiana Rent Boy 108: She [...] zaps Stanley with her movie star smile.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 331: Wheezer didn’t want to ask what was meant by zapping hardware, but, now he was here, it looked to Wheezer as if Rory was in control.
2001		Indep. on Sun. Life 29 July 11: An aura that zaps you with static from 20 paces.
2004		C. Hiaasen Skinny Dip 198: Stranahan zapped Joey’s husband again with the flashlight.

7. to encounter problems; of a criminal, to get arrested, imprisoned.

1968		J. Hersey Algiers Motel Incident 100: These prostitutes were really getting zapped!
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 109: That’s when the hustler pays his dues, when he don’t know he’s going to get zapped.

8. to shoot.

1969		C. Sellers Where Have All the Soldiers Gone 18: ‘[H]e couldn’t care less right now if you got yourself zapped through the head’.
1978		T. O’Brien Going After Cacciato (1980) 254: Anybody not scared of gettin’ his ass zapped is a dummy.
1986		C. Stroud Close Pursuit (1988) 224: You think they didn’t do it? They didn’t zap those black kids with that stun gun?
1999		Indep. Mag. 25 Sept. 31: Captains of industry are having cook-outs in the woods and zapping each other with paint balls.
2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 36: Pop you. Zap you in the leg.

9. to dismiss from a job.

1984

J. McNamara First Directive (1985) 209: If the administration thinks about zapping you, they’ll have to worry about how it will look on paper.

10. (US campus) to cook in a microwave.

1986		Eble Campus Sl. Mar.
2010		W.D. Myers Cruisers 29: I put the Chinese food and the fried chicken on a plate and zapped it in the microwave.

11. to steal.

1989		C.J. Fourie Big Boys in Kani (1994) 114: I stole a dinky toy when I was a boy. Do you also get a kick out of zapping things? [...] So whose bicycle did you zap?
1999		K. Sampson Powder 369: James had zapped his fucking drugs while he’d been out of it.
2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 42: They double don’t want no other heads coming in and zapping their gear.

12. to turn on or off, e.g. a television, car-locking device.

1990		W.D. Myers Mouse Rap 142: I got the remote, zapped on some ‘toons, and picked up the phone.
1998		R.G. Barrett Goodoo Goodoo 6: He zapped the TV set then got up.
2013		K. Sampson Killing Pool 243: I zap the kart open, jump inside, jiggle the keys into the ignition.
2015		S. King Finders Keepers (2016) 243: He zaps off the television.

13. to subject to radio-therapy.

2021

T. Pluck Boy from County Hell 187: ‘Gotta zap that goiter growing under your tit’.