zonianhttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zonian_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_useZonian, n.
First published 1986; not fully revised

Zoniannoun (& adjective)

  1. 1910–
    An American inhabitant of the Panama Canal Zone, a ten mile wide strip of land crossing the Isthmus of Panama on both sides of the Panama Canal, which was granted to the United States as a territory in 1904 and was transferred to Panama in 1979. Also attributive or as adj.
    1. 1910
      Whatever your job, digging a canal, or driving a taxi-cab, or writing stock quotations, don't wear a uniform... The Zonian has a uniform, though, in spite of himself. It is the umbrella.
      Everybody's Magazine March 322/1
    2. 1950
      The man marrying a girl of mixed blood may be unaware of the general Zonian prejudice that classes all Panamanians as ‘colored’.
      Social Forces December 161/1
    3. 1951
      Zonians..need no longer do without—just because the commissaries are closed.
      Panama Canal Review 3 August 9/3
    4. 1964
      Zonians’, American inhabitants of the [Panama Canal] Zone.
      Observer 12 January 1/5
    5. 1979
      Within a very few months the treaty would be ratified. I told this to a Zonian lady... The Zonians, 3,000 workers for the Panama Canal Company..saw the treaty as a sell-out.
      P. Theroux, Old Patagonian Express xii. 170

Zonian, n. was first published in 1986; not fully revised.

Zonian, n. was last modified in December 2024.