"zip" definition, meaning, and origin

Interjection

Imitative of high-pitched sound of a small object moving rapidly through air.
- `Zip!' Just like that, an exquisitely shaped fragment of a flashing rainbow in flight flits across in front of us[.] - 1934, Henry G. Lamond, An Aviary on the Plains, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 35:

Onomatopoeic.

To close with a zip fastener.
To close as if with a zip fastener.
- Zip your lip!
To compress (one or more computer files) into a single and often smaller file, especially one in the ZIP format.
To subject to the convolution mapping function.
To move rapidly (in a specified direction or to a specified place) with a high-pitched sound.
- The bullet zipped through the air.
To move in haste (in a specified direction or to a specified place).
- Zip down to the shops for some milk.
- Despite writing that can be confusing — we are not told, for example, how Oishi’s group of 56 ronin ended up just 47, or maybe a supertitle zipped by too quickly — the story moves at a steady clip. And Dachs’s decision...
To make (something) move quickly
- Tottenham also initially struggled to create genuine goal-scoring opportunities, with Bale, Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart zipping passes around to little effect. - 2011 December 27, Mike Henson, “Norwich 0 - 2...
To travel on a zipline.
To offer a list of alternately male and female candidates in an attempt to address the shortage of women.