zoning, adj.

zoning
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoning_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1921; not fully revised

# zoningadjective

## Factsheet

### Where does the adjective zoning come from?

Earliest known use

1850s

The earliest known use of the adjective zoning is in the 1850s.

OED's earliest evidence for zoning is from 1853, in the writing of Andrew Smith, army medical officer and naturalist.

### How common is the adjective zoning?

About 0.03occurrences per million words in modern written English

1890 | 0.0025
1900 | 0.0039
1910 | 0.0054
1920 | 0.0086
1930 | 0.013
1940 | 0.021
1950 | 0.026
1960 | 0.028
1970 | 0.031
1980 | 0.033
1990 | 0.033
2000 | 0.034
2010 | 0.028

### Nearby entries

1. zone plate, n. 1890–
2. zoner, n. 1962–
3. zone-refine, v. 1962–
4. zone refiner, n. 1959–
5. zone refining, n. 1952–
6. zone therapy, n. 1915–
7. zone time, n. 1908–
8. Zonian, n. 1910–
9. zonic, adj. 1797–
10. zoning, n. a1821–
11. zoning, adj.1853–
12. zonite, n. 1860–
13. zonitic, adj. 1888–
14. zonk, v. 1950–
15. zonk, int. 1949–
16. zonked, adj. 1959–
17. zonkey, n. 1953–
18. zonking, adj. 1958–
19. zonky, adj. 1972–
20. zono-, comb. form
21. zonochlorite, n. 1872–

## Meaning & use

1. 1853–
   See zone v.
   Stressed as ˈzoning.
   1. 1853

      > When first they clasped a Son of God..In zoning heaven of their milky arms.

      A. Smith, Life Drama ii
   2. 1865

      > When the zoning eve has died.

      Lord Tennyson, On a Mourner v
   1. circumjacent 1490–
      Lying or situated around, adjacent on all sides, surrounding.
   2. circumstant 1545–1666
      Standing around, surrounding, circumjacent.
   3. circumvoisin 1548–1641
      Neighbouring on all sides.
   4. environing?a1560–
      That environs, surrounds, or envelops.
   5. encompassing 1571–
      That encompasses.
   6. ambient 1572–
      That surrounds or encircles; that lies on all sides of something; encompassing.
   7. succingent 1578–1684
      Engirdling, embracing.
   8. embracing 1590–
      That encircles, surrounds, or encloses.
   9. circling 1594–
      Encircling.
   10. girdling 1598–
       That girdles or surrounds.
   11. circumdant 1600–44
       Surrounding.
   12. rounding 1600–
       poetic. Surrounding; encircling. Now rare.
   13. all round?1611–
       That completely encircles; including or affecting everything in a given circle or on all sides.
   14. circumferent 1620–52
       Forming the circumference, encircling, encompassing; travelling around.
   15. circumsistent 1625
       Surrounding.
   16. circuiting 1632–
       That circuits, goes round, goes in or on a circuit.
   17. circulating 1632–
       That circulates, in various senses.
   18. encircling 1632–
       That encircles.
   19. surrounding 1637–
       That is (or are) around; encompassing, circumjacent.
   20. begirting 1645–
   21. circumambient 1648–
       Going or extending round; surrounding, encompassing, environing.
   22. circumstantial 1650
       Standing around, surrounding. Obsolete.
   23. girding 1658–
       That girds, in senses of the verb.
   24. skirting c1735–
       That skirts, in senses of the verb.
   25. entwining 1737–
       That entwines.
   26. circumadjacent 1780–
       Lying immediately around.
   27. belting 1808–
       Encircling, surrounding, girdling. Now somewhat rare.
   28. engirdling 1843–
       That engirdles, surrounds, encloses.
   29. encyclic 1850–
       Encircling.
   30. engirding 1852–
   31. zoning 1853–
   32. roundabout c1860
       Nautical. Of rope: that goes all the way round. Obsolete. rare.
   33. begirding 1877–
       That begirds or encloses all round.
   34. wraparound 1957–
       gen. That surrounds or encompasses.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zoning typically occurs about 0.03 times per million words in modern written English.

zoning is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zoning, adj., 1890–2010

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.

The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.

For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.

Decade | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
1890 | 0.0025
1900 | 0.0039
1910 | 0.0054
1920 | 0.0086
1930 | 0.013
1940 | 0.021
1950 | 0.026
1960 | 0.028
1970 | 0.031
1980 | 0.033
1990 | 0.033
2000 | 0.034
2010 | 0.028

Originally published as part of the entry for zone, v.

zone, v. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.