zip linenoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zip line mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zip line. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun zip line?
| 2017 | 0.32 |
| 2018 | 0.27 |
| 2019 | 0.26 |
| 2020 | 0.25 |
| 2021 | 0.23 |
| 2022 | 0.21 |
| 2023 | 0.23 |
| 2024 | 0.23 |
How is the noun zip line pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun zip line come from?
Earliest known use
1970s
The earliest known use of the noun zip line is in the 1970s.
OED's earliest evidence for zip line is from 1970, in Caribou County Sun (Soda Springs, Idaho).
Nearby entries
- zip cuff, v.1996–
- Zipf, n.1936–
- zip fastener, n.1925–
- zip fastening, n. & adj.1925–
- zip gun, n.1914–
- Ziph, n.1834–
- ziphian, n. & adj.1896
- ziphiiform, adj.1891
- ziphioid, adj. & n.1861–
- zipless, adj.1922–
- zip line, n.1970–
- zip line, v.1998–
- zipliner, n.1993–
- zip lining, n.?1983–
- zip-lipped, adj.1943–
- ziplock, n.1928–
- zipped, adj.1931–
- zippeite, n.1850–
- zipper, n.1923–
- zipper, v.1927–
- zippered, adj.1926–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1970–An inclined cable or rope stretched between two points down which people slide by means of a suspended pulley, harness, or handle, often as a recreational activity. Cf. zip wire n.
- 1970
A jump off lava cliffs on the zip lines.
Caribou County Sun (Soda Springs, Idaho) 18 June 10/4 - 1983
What they have to do is..cross a short two-line walk from one tree to the next 35 feet above the ground and speed down through the trees on a zip line.
Scouting January 56 - 2010
Once they dug a bunker, another time they rigged a zip line up between trees.
S. Junger, War i. i. 12
Pronunciation
British English
U.S. English
Consonants
- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence
Vowels
- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
View the pronunciation model here.
Consonants
- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye*
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing
* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence
Vowels
- ifleece, happy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- ætrap, bath
- ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
- ɑrstart
- ɔcloth, thought
- ɔrnorth, force
- ʊfoot
- ugoose
- əstrut, comma
- ərnurse, letter
- ɪ(ə)rnear
- ɛ(ə)rsquare
- ʊ(ə)rcure
- eɪface
- aɪpride
- aʊmouth
- oʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ɑ̃gratin
- æ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
View the pronunciation model here.
Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.
Consonants
b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values
- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige
Vowels
- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot
Frequency
zip line typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zip line is in frequency band 2, which contains words occurring between 0.001 and 0.01 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of zip line, n., 1970–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1970 | 0.005 |
| 1980 | 0.007 |
| 1990 | 0.007 |
| 2000 | 0.007 |
| 2010 | 0.0087 |
Frequency of zip line, n., 2017–2024
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.
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 corpus.
| Period | Frequency per million words |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 0.32 |
| 2018 | 0.27 |
| 2019 | 0.26 |
| 2020 | 0.25 |
| 2021 | 0.23 |
| 2022 | 0.21 |
| 2023 | 0.23 |
| 2024 | 0.23 |
Compounds & derived words
- zip lining, n. ?1983–The act of sliding down a zip line (zip line…
- zipliner, n. 1993–A person who slides down a zip line (zip line…
- zip line, v. 1998–intransitive. To slide down a zip line (zip line…