zigzag

noun

1. A line or path that proceeds by sharp turns in alternating directions.

   “She had just succeeded in curving it down into a graceful zigzag, and was going to dive in among the leaves, which she found to be nothing but the tops of the trees under which she had been wandering, when a sharp hiss made her draw back in a hurry: […].”

   “And still, high in front, arose the precipitous barrier of the mountain, greened over where it seemed that scarce a harebell could find root, barred with the zigzags of a human road where it seemed that not a goat could scramble.”

2. One of these sharp turns.

adj

1. (not-comparable)Moving in, or having a zigzag.

   “The entrance to this ancient place of devotion was under a very low round arch, ornamented by several courses of that zig-zag moulding, resembling shark's teeth, which appears so often in the more ancient Saxon churches.”

   “His thoughts were fixed on one subject, and it was an effort to him to follow the zigzag remarks of his children—an effort which he did not make.”

   “There, by dint of looking closely about me, I found a rough zig-zag descending path notched out: which I followed.”

   “Right and left ranked the toothed and zigzag line of storm-torn heights, forming the series which culminated in the one beneath their feet.”

   “We followed the mule-road, a zigzag course, now to the right, now to the left, but always up, and always crowded and incommoded by going and coming files of reckless tourists who were never, in a single instance, tied together.”

2. (US, World-War-I, not-comparable, slang)Drunk.

verb

1. To move or to twist in a zigzag manner.

   “[…] she saw them as we see the throngs which cover the canvases of Sallaert, Van Alsloot, and others of that school—vast masses of beings, jostling, zigzagging, and processioning in definite directions, but whose features are indistinguishable by the very comprehensiveness of the view.”

   “At the base this vent was dark, cool, and smelled of dry, musty dust. It zigzagged so that he could not see ahead more than a few yards at a time.”

   “If the first two novels created a new genre — Peakean fantasy — then this third volume zigzags between several: the Bildungsroman, science fiction, social satire, morality tale and dystopian prophecy.”

adv

1. In a zigzag manner or pattern.

name

1. A small town in Oregon.