channel zapper, n. colloq.
Brit. /ˈtʃanlˌ zɑpə/, U.S. /ˈtʃæn(ə)l ˌzæpər/
[‹ channel n.1 + zapper n.]
1. = channel surfer n.
| 1986 Sunday Tel. 2 Nov. (Colour Suppl.) 28/3 What was true for the wireless-knob twiddler then [i.e. during the war] is true for the TV channel zapper now. 1995 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 19 Nov. ii. 42/1 The whole experience feels as if your computer had been taken over by a bratty, anarchistic channel zapper. 2000 Oldie Dec. 56/1 This book would have been better if it had been..less directed at a television audience of potential channel-zappers. |
2. A remote-control device for a television. Cf. zapper n. Additions c.
| 1987 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 31 Aug. (Tempo section) 1 How long do you think it would take most viewers to hit the remote-control channel-zapper? 1993 Independent 12 May 17/3 Sega's latest campaign,..is designed to reach the parts that other ads fail to reach—16- to 25-year-olds, an age group notoriously light fingered with the channel zapper if its interest is lost. 1997 Hartford (Connecticut) Courant (Nexis) 7 June e1 Say it with a framed photo, say it with a Lexus. But only a cutting-edge channel zapper is guaranteed to bring tears of gratitude to dear old dad's eyes. |