Other forms: zippers
A zipper is the metal track you pull up and down to close a jacket. Pull the zipper, a broken zipper, zipper pocket.
This is the American word; British English says zip. The teeth do not simply interlock — the slider bends each one into the gap between the two opposite it, which is why a zipper jams when a tooth is bent. It was a trade name from 1925.
1nounzipperA fastener of interlocking teeth pulled by a slider.
“The zipper on my jacket is stuck, so I can't take it off.”
zipper is a fastener.
Also accepted in games: zip
From zip plus -er. It began as a 1925 trade name for rubber boots that fastened this way.
1925, zip + -er. The trade name was registered in 1925 by B.F. Goodrich for “boots made of rubber and fabric,” claiming use of the name since June 1923. No longer a registered trademark.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA