zip cuffn.
/ˈzɪp kʌf/, U.S. /ˈzɪp ˌkəf/ U.S.
Usually in plural. A fastener used as handcuffs, consisting of a thin, flexible nylon strap with a notched surface that is shaped to form two loops secured by a central ratchet.
ΚΠ
1995 Harper's Mag. Jan. 42/2 The police stoop down to arrest them... You can hear the zipping sound of plastic hand restraints—zipcuffs—being pulled tight.
2004 T. Borg Tahoe Killshot li. 267 They grabbed my arms and jerked my hands behind my back. I felt nylon zip cuffs ratchet around my wrists.
2011 @joshharkinson 15 Nov. in twitter.com (accessed 27 Apr. 2018) The riot police moved in with zip cuffs and teargassed the occupiers.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
zip cuffv.
/ˈzɪp kʌf/, U.S. /ˈzɪp ˌkəf/ U.S.
transitive. To put zip cuffs on (a person); to bind (a person's wrists or ankles) with zip cuffs (zip cuff n.).
ΚΠ
1996 P. F. Hamilton Reality Dysfunction xix. 525 He had been zipcuffed.
2006 P. Rieckhoff Chasing Ghosts vi. 78 If I find her here next time I come through, I'll zip cuff you, take you back to our compound, and give you a long class on infectious diseases. Got it?
2015 P. Bacigalupi Water Knife i. 18 Yu tore free and bolted back toward his water-treatment plant, stumbling, hands still zip-cuffed behind his back.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1995v.1996