[Ads-l] zorch

[Jonathan Lighter]

Not in OED. Mentioned here in connection with "zilch,' but not yet
specifically treated.

zorch  adj. & interj.  [popularized by R. B. “Red” Blanchard, Jr., Calif.
disk jockey] splendid.

1953 High School World (Topeka, Kans.) (Feb. 20) 3: “Zorch” and “Zaa” are
his favorite slang expressions.

1953 Milwaukee Journal (May 21) “Greensheet”: Zorch - Sensational,
marvelous, the greatest.

1953 Time (June 22): Real Zorch.

1953 Warrensburg [N.Y.] News (July 30) 4: They then exchanged one sneaker
each so that they might call themselves crazy, mixed-up Keds. Real zorch,
eh?

1954 Warrensburg [N1: .Y.] News (Oct. 28) 9: The decorations were zorch, as
were the games.

1958 Kingston [N.Y.] Daily Freeman (May 21) 21: A come-as-you-are party?
How utterly zorch!

2004 Stone Age Woo: The Zorch Sounds of Nervous Norvus (Norton CD 10094662).

As a n., 'outrageous craze; kick'  Rare.

1953 Albany [N.Y.] Times Union (July 22) 4: Burned Initials Latest “Zorch,”
Girl Tells Judge…It was considered to be the latest zorch in her circle to
wear the brands. She burned them on with matches.

As v., 1.  to go at scorching speed.

1964 Muskegon [Mich.] Chronicle (Jan. 24) 8: If you're going to "bomb"
around...with the teen-agers, you'll have to be "hep" to their
lingo....Zorch - refers to some kind of movement, the car zorched out!

2000 Times-Picayune (N.O.) (June 16) "Lagniappe" 18:  The doctor throws a
switch, jagged lines of lightening [sic] zorch from helmet to helmet.

2007 Jack Broughton _Rupert Red Two_ (St. Paul. Minn.: Zenith) 194:
Ed...with the throttle wide open, zorched over the top of the hill.

2. to  harm seriously; destroy (as by a burst of energy or electricity).

1958 Julian May _There’s Adventure in Rockets_ (Chi.: Popular Mechanics
Press) 42: You could've got zorched, but good.

1984 Boston Globe  (Nov. 11) 12: He zorched his academic career.

1986 Austin American-Statesman (Dec. 7) G-8: Recover, re-enter data of
ZORCHED floppies.

1991 Tulare [Calif.] Advance-Register (Jan. 18) 13:  Zorched by Zarches,
Spaceman Spiff's crippled craft crashes on Planet Plootarg.

2001 _Business Week_ (Apr. 23) 12: It makes no backup copies of the
message, and can be set so that a message is destroyed ("zorched," in
SafeMessage lingo) within a time set by the sender.

As interj., 'buzz!; zap!' Rare.

2008 Georgia Times-Union (Brunswick, Ga.) (Nov. 10 (Mandarin Sun Sec.) 10:
I like the jellyfish buzzing around. The jellyfish go "Zorch! zap! zarc!"
-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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