Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to rush around energetically or at high-speed.

1920		S. Lewis Main Street (1921) 18: How’d it be to skate there for a couple of hours, or go zinging along on a fast ice-boat.
1938		D. Runyon ‘Situation Wanted’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 664: Bullets are zinging about the sandbags quite some.
1967		(con. 1950s) McAleer & Dickson Unit Pride (1981) 216: Dewey zinged a bullet out across the water.
1973		S. Ace Stand On It (1979) 59: You haven’t lived until you have zinged one off the wall at Darlington.
1999		Indep. Rev. 13 Aug. 10: A bullet zings its way into Smith’s chest.
2005		H. Mantel Beyond Black 166: The cable had zinged out of his hand.

2. (also zang) to throw.

1935		R.L. Bellem ‘Beyond Justice’ in Spicy Detective Stories Nov. 🌐 He flicked a stiletto out of his coat-sleeve and zinged it at me.
1944		H.B. Hersey G.I. Laughs 185: The kid zinged him a ‘highball.’.
1983		‘Heat Moon’ Blue Highways 111: Tie on with these and you’ll get zanged out of the window like in a slingshot.

3. to make a high-pitched noise.

1949		N. Marsh Swing, Brother, Swing 88: Lord Pastern banged, and rattled, and zinged much in the same way as Syd Skelton.
1959		L. Hasley ‘What Is This Thing Called Love?’ in Play it Cool, Sister 184: The minute I stepped into that [...] living room, zing went the strings of my heart.
1963		T. Pynchon V 345: Had his coincidence, the accident to shatter the surface of this stagnant pool and send all the mosquitoes of hope zinging away to the exterior night; had it happened?
1990		J. Wambaugh Golden Orange (1991) 359: Winnie [...] fired two rounds past Buster’s ear, zinging into the rocks!

4. to insult, to tease.

1967		L. Bruce Essential Lenny Bruce 27: Zing, zing, zing, continually schpritzed.
1977		J. Olsen Secret of Fire Five 146: ‘Hold it, Ax,’ I says. ‘They’re only zinging you.’.

5. to make a snappy delivery of a witticism.

1965

L. Bruce How to Talk Dirty 96: You don’t have to lay it on, just zing it in there once in a while.

6. to shock with an unforeseen revelation.

1946		J. Adams From Gags to Riches 137: ‘Then how come,’ zinged back Toots, ‘ya don’t talk ta yer brother?’.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Mama Black Widow 145: The plan was to zing the pastor at a special meeting.
1973		in H.S. Thompson Great Shark Hunt (1980) 222: We’re gonna get zinged tonight, folks.
1985		E. Leonard Glitz 170: It zinged her, caught her by surprise.
2001		S. King Dreamcatcher 242: Owen had zinged him a good one, putting the grayboys on the squad channel like that.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 191: I zinged her ‘Ingrid, are you running dope to Mexico?’.

7. to bet heavily, usu. at dice.

1961		J. Scarne Complete Guide to Gambling.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.

8. (US) to inject.

1969

C. Sellers Where Have All the Soldiers Gone 139: ‘When we get back to the company, I’ll let you zing me with that needle, doc’.