zebra skin, n.

zebra-skin
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zebra-skin_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zebra skinnoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zebra skin mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zebra skin. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the noun zebra skin?

About 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1770 | 0.0046
1780 | 0.0038
1790 | 0.0036
1800 | 0.0031
1810 | 0.0012
1820 | 0.0013
1830 | 0.0014
1840 | 0.0013
1850 | 0.0015
1860 | 0.0019
1870 | 0.0022
1880 | 0.0029
1890 | 0.0032
1900 | 0.0042
1910 | 0.0047
1920 | 0.0057
1930 | 0.0062
1940 | 0.0072
1950 | 0.008
1960 | 0.0089
1970 | 0.0098
1980 | 0.011
1990 | 0.011
2000 | 0.011
2010 | 0.012

### Where does the noun zebra skin come from?

Earliest known use

late 1700s

The earliest known use of the noun zebra skin is in the late 1700s.

OED's earliest evidence for zebra skin is from 1774, in the writing of Edward Long, planter and commentator on Jamaican affairs.

### Nearby entries

1. zebrano, n. 1908–
2. zebra opossum, n. 1808–
3. zebra parakeet, n. 1856–
4. zebra plant, n. 1826–
5. zebra poison, n. 1871–74
6. zebra print, n. & adj. 1932–
7. zebra rhomb, n. 1770–1844
8. zebra rock, n. 1895–
9. zebra rush, n. 1882–
10. zebra shark, n. 1804–
11. zebra skin, n.1774–
12. zebra spider, n. 1806–
13. zebra suit, n. 1853–
14. zebra swallowtail, n. 1855–
15. zebra wolf, n. 1808–
16. zebrawood, n. 1768–
17. zebra woodpecker, n. 1884–
18. zebrina, n. 1846–
19. zebrine, adj. a1810–
20. zebroid, adj. & n. 1881–
21. zebrule, n. 1899–

## Meaning & use

1. 1774–
   The skin or pelt of a zebra; (also) a striped design or motif resembling this; frequently attributive.
   1. 1774

      > Zebra wood..is of a most lovely tint, and richly veined; but not in lifts like the pigeon wood: the latter much better corresponds with the zebra skin in the disposition of its stripes.

      E. Long, History of Jamaica vol. III. 838
   2. 1886

      > I had no shoes but those of my own manufacture, made of zebra skin.

      Proceedings of Royal Geographical Society vol. 8 76
   3. 1927

      > For the motorist a la mode who likes black and white, one furrier is showing a genuine zebra skin coat.

      Amarillo (Texas) Daily News 31 August 7/1
   4. 1973

      > Walls, floor, and ceiling were all done in a zebra-skin motif. Everything..was covered in zebra skin.

      G. Beare, Snake on Grave xiii. 68
   5. 2013

      > Today the drums have changed—they are no longer made of zebra skin.

      J. Bankston, We visit Rwanda v. 33
   leather-making
   1. bear-hide?c1225–
      General use as a modifier, as in bear cub, bear-fat, bear-fur, bear-hide, bear-hunt, bear-meat.
   2. russwale 1336–1485
      Walrus hide.
   3. roan skin 1446–
      (Usually in plural) a piece of roan dressed and prepared for use (now historical); (as a mass noun) = roan, n.¹.
   4. rabbit skin 1760–
      The skin or pelt of a rabbit.
   5. zebra skin 1774–
      The skin or pelt of a zebra; (also) a striped design or motif resembling this; frequently attributive.
   6. kangaroo-skin 1777–
      The skin of the kangaroo used as leather or fur.
   7. loon skin 1799–
      a. n. The skin of the loon; b. adj. made of loon skin.
   8. rack 1805–78
      The skin of a young rabbit.
   9. head skin 1874–
      The thick tough skin covering the head of a whale.
   10. alligator 1877–
       Alligator skin or material resembling this; (also in plural) shoes of (imitation) alligator skin. Cf. compounds C.2.
   11. ocelot 1903–
       The skin or fur of the ocelot; a garment made of this. Frequently attributive.
   12. crocodile 1907–
       = crocodile-skin (see also quot. 1968).
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zebra skin typically occurs about 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zebra skin 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 zebra skin, n., 1770–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1770 | 0.0046
1780 | 0.0038
1790 | 0.0036
1800 | 0.0031
1810 | 0.0012
1820 | 0.0013
1830 | 0.0014
1840 | 0.0013
1850 | 0.0015
1860 | 0.0019
1870 | 0.0022
1880 | 0.0029
1890 | 0.0032
1900 | 0.0042
1910 | 0.0047
1920 | 0.0057
1930 | 0.0062
1940 | 0.0072
1950 | 0.008
1960 | 0.0089
1970 | 0.0098
1980 | 0.011
1990 | 0.011
2000 | 0.011
2010 | 0.012

Originally published as part of the entry for zebra, n.

zebra, n. was revised in June 2018.