a fastener for locking together two toothed edges by means of a sliding tab
"She struggled to pull the zipper up her jacket because it was stuck on the first hole."
A zip fastener.
"She struggled to pull up the zipper on her jacket because it was stuck."
to close a zipper.
"She carefully zipped up her jacket before stepping out into the cold wind."
The word "zipper" comes from combining "zip" with the suffix "-er." It was originally a trade name registered in 1925 by B.F. Goodrich for rubber and fabric boots.