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Attested from 1712. Borrowed from Frenchzigzag (attested from 1662), possibly from a Germanic source via Walloonziczac (although GermanZickzack is attested only from 1703). Also, possibly from the shape of the letter Z, which appears twice in the word.
The entrance to this ancient place of devotion was under a very low round arch, ornamented by several courses of that zig-zag moulding, resembling shark's teeth, which appears so often in the more ancient Saxon churches.
Then he addressed a keen-sighted, remembering gaze to the rim-wall above. It was serrated, and between two spears of rock, directly in line with his position, showed a zigzag crack that at night would let through the gleam of sky.
At the base this vent was dark, cool, and smelled of dry, musty dust. It zigzagged so that he could not see ahead more than a few yards at a time.
2002, Malcolm Yorke, Mervyn Peake: My Eyes Mint Gold: A Life, page 298:
If the first two novels created a new genre — Peakean fantasy — then this third volume zigzags between several: the Bildungsroman, science fiction, social satire, morality tale and dystopian prophecy.
^ * Lighter, Jonathan (1972) “The Slang of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe, 1917-1919: An Historical Glossary”, in American Speech, volume 47, number 1/2, page 119