zap

A sound made by a sudden release of electricity or some similar energy.colloquial

An electric shock.colloquial

• You might feel a little zap touching a metal doorknob when the air is dry.

A raucous public demonstration designed to embarrass a public figure or celebrity as a form of political activism.

• Black AIDS activists were caught in the middle of a nearly yearlong series of zaps.
• When a zap at Brooklyn's Board of Education opened no dialogue on discrimination suffered by gay teachers, GAA targeted the BOE offices on April 13.

The act of heating something in a microwave oven.slang

• The guest immediately asked the bartender to give his drink a zap in the microwave oven behind him […]

To make a zap sound.intransitive

To use a remote control to repeatedly fast-forward or change channels on a television.

To strike (something or someone) with electricity or energy, as by shooting.

• They spent the whole movie zapping bad guys into oblivion.

To kill; to eliminate.USslangtransitive

• Says a U. S. officer: "We zapped the enemy, now we intend to stick around. […]

To do away with something.slangtransitive

To enliven.slangtransitive

To move or transport (something) in a brief time frame.slangtransitive

To damage (especially electronics) with electrostatic discharge.slangtransitive

• I think they zapped the processor.

To heat (something) in a microwave oven.slangtransitive

• If it's not warm in the middle, zap it some more.

To delete or discard (electronic media).slangtransitive

• They zapped a lot of files before realizing they had not backed up lately.

Representing the sound or action of a zap.

• Then the computer went zap and I lost all my work.