The second syllable of zigzag used as a separate word (adv., vb., or sb.) to express a movement or direction inclined at an angle to that indicated by zig.
1793. Burns, Lett. to R. Ainslie, 26 April. I have written many a letter in return for letters received, but, then, they were original matter. Spurt away! zig here, zag there.
1840. Arnold, in A. P. Stanley, Life & Corr. (1844), II. 403. We go down by zig and zag towards the level of the Tiber.
1900. H. Sutcliffe, Shameless Wayne, xii. His steel zags down like lightning before a man’s eye can teach his hand to parry.
1906. Spectator, 1 Dec., 879–80. One of the chief difficulties of walking up snipe is that … ‘when you shoot zig he goes zag, and when you shoot zag he goes zig.’
