Zippo
adj, noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Zero. Typically used for emphasis, as when the listener might expect a positive quantity. emphatic, informal, not-comparable
"We got 200 consoles and we sold 200 consoles and 200 minus 200 is ZIPPO, so I can't sell you anything right now."
- 2 A reusable lighter.
"He was about to make the farewell flick of the wheel on his faithful Zippo, which had seen him through the Normany hedgerows, the Ardennes, Germany, and postwar America, when he heard a key in the front door, and voices."
- 3 a quantity of no importance; thing (object:), singular, negative pronoun; pronoun, thing, singular; quantifier: negative existential wordnet
- 4 A boat, tank, etc. equipped with flamethrowers. slang
- 1 To light on fire. slang
"I didn't want to burn 'em out, but that's policy. So we zippoed their hooch."
- 2 Alternative spelling of zippo. alt-of, alternative
- 1 Zero; none whatsoever. not-comparable, slang
"“The whole situation is magnificent news, especially when the problem has been zippo investment by large corporations in Africa,” says Robert H. Bates[…]."
Example
More examples"“The whole situation is magnificent news, especially when the problem has been zippo investment by large corporations in Africa,” says Robert H. Bates[…]."
Etymology
From zip + -o.
Popular slang among American soldiers in the Vietnam War; from the Zippo brand of lighter.
Trade name for lighters, established in the 1930s.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.