zoomverb1
Meaning & use
- 1.1886–intransitive. To move or travel very quickly, esp. making a continuous humming, buzzing, or droning sound; to make such a sound while moving quickly. Also occasionally transitive: to cause to move in this way; to propel quickly. Frequently with adverbs and prepositions indicating the direction of travel, as along, away, into, off, etc.
- 1886
The crystal went zooming into the fence-corner.
Century Magazine January 426/1 - 1905
A couple of humble-bees zoomed against the window pane.
, Shining Ferry xiv - 1924
Trams zoom along and buses rattle past.
British Weekly 18 December 270/1 - 1930
Saws humming. Lathes turning. Band Saws zooming. Joiners buzzing.
Popular Mechanics December 145/2 - 1946
How would it be..to zoom off immediately, without waiting to pack.
, Joy in Morning xxix. 280 - 1960
Hewitt soon zoomed away on the right.
, Kings of Rugby (new edition) 118 - 1976
Every night..a speedboat zooms into the Jones Beach Marine Theater.
National Observer (U.S.) 14 August 16/1 - 1984
Jim Tait zoomed his skateboard around the Orange locker room.
Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York) 19 September c3/1 - 2010
What about the eerie footage of the accelerator pedal pressing down on its own and the Audi suddenly zooming out of control?
, Proofiness iii. 77
- 2.Aeronautics.
- 2.a.1917–intransitive. Of an aircraft or its pilot: to make a steep climb while flying at high speed (cf. zoom n. 1). Also in extended use.Passing into sense 1.
- 1917
The wind whistled about their ears, and, next second, they were ‘zumming’ up, climbing at an angle of quite 30 degrees.
Saturday Journal (Adelaide) 7 April 6/5 - 1920
The bird checked, swerved and dived and zoomed back into level flight again.
Blackwood's Magazine July 71/2 - 1934
They would dive and zoom..but they would never dogfight Camels.
, Winged Victory vi. 51 - 1962
At 28,000 feet, diving at 900 mph..we suddenly pulled through and started to zoom up again..This manœuvre converted some of our speed into zoom energy.
in J. Glenn et al., Into Orbit 75 - 1980
He zoomed up and over to gain height.
, Copley's Hunch ii. i. 115 - 1995
The country's bold pilots were not the least bit shy about zooming into the skies, forever willing and able to dogfight every enemy plane out of them.
, World War I Songs I. viii. 130/1
- 2.b.1918–transitive. To cause (an aircraft) to make a steep climb while flying at high speed; (also) to fly over (something on the ground) in this manner.
- 1918
Watch me zoom those girls ahead on the beach, go on, wave to them!
Flight 13 June 656/2 - 1918
I ‘gave 'er all the gun’ and ‘zoomed’ the château—that is, I almost went up the front of the place.
Independent 16 November 208/2 - 1928
A machine should never be ‘zoomed’ or made to jump into the air by a too-rapid movement of the elevator flaps.
, Modern Aircraft 521 - 1978
The aircraft should be zoomed (approximately 20 degrees nose up attitude).
T-38 Talon 36/2
- 2.c.1928–intransitive. figurative. Of prices, costs, statistics, etc.: to rise sharply; to soar, to rocket.
- 1928
Common stock of Radio Corporation zooming up.
Hutchinson (Kansas) News 30 March 1/3 - 1970
They must double labour and work overtime. Costs zoom.
Daily Telegraph 6 February (Colour Supplement) 17/3 - 1976
By March 1978..the dropout total would zoom to 498,300—50 times the total as of March 1972.
National Observer (U.S.) 17 July 3/1 - 1981
He did not think that the Prime Minister had ever said the economy was going to zoom.
Times 12 September 2/1 - 2014
A market where the house prices are ‘zooming out of reach’.
Daily Telegraph 5 September 4/4
- 3.Cinematography and Photography.
- 3.a.1944–intransitive. Of a camera, lens, etc.: to change smoothly from a long shot of a subject to a close-up, or vice versa, without losing focus; to change the magnification of a shot in this way. Frequently with in (on): to bring a subject into close-up (also figurative). Also with out: to change to a long shot of a subject, widening the field of view.With reference to digital photography overlapping with sense 4.
- 1944
The camera suddenly zooms into the first scene.
Popular Photography January 64 - 1959
The scene opens with a full screen live-action back-projection shot which zooms to a miniature.
& , Technique of Film Animation xix. 237 - 1962
The lens is capable of ‘zooming-in’ on a set target up to a mile distant.
Daily Telegraph 8 June 23/7 - 1968
The camera zoomed in close, following her, closing-up, till the face of the jouncing baby..could be seen clearly.
, Bag x. 464 - 1970
Needle-sharp f1.8 lens—zooms from telephoto to wide angle.
Amateur Photographer 11 March 13 (advertisement) - 1979
The cameras..zooming in and out, whip-panning, busying about the place looking for new angles.
Observer 26 August 20/8 - 1989
You went away..smiling with the assurance that you had zoomed in on details people were too preoccupied, or too nervous, to notice.
, Picturing Will i. ix. 84 - 2004
A photographer..will use a short-focal-length wide-angle, or ‘fisheye’, lens to zoom out, revealing the fans throughout the stadium.
Scientific American (U.K. edition) December 54/3 - 2011
They would use the cameras to zoom in on anyone they fancied taking a closer look at.
Independent 14 September (Viewspaper section) 3/1
- 3.b.1944–transitive. To cause (a camera, lens, etc.) to change the magnification of a shot in this way; to cause to zoom in or out.
- 1944
The camera is zoomed into the first scene.
Popular Photography January 64 - 1952
The construction makes it possible for the operator to ‘zoom’ the lenses after the ball or player.
Applied Electronics Ann. 1951 57/1 - 1979
Have you tried focusing and zooming a lens that operates in the opposite direction to others in your gadget bag?
SLR Camera March 5/3 - 2002
Why zoom the camera in on Paula Zahn's lips and advertise her as sexy?
New York Times (National edition) 13 March a27/2
- 4.1965–intransitive. Computing. To enlarge or decrease the size of (part of) an electronic image, document, etc., displayed on a screen. Frequently with in (on), out (cf. sense 3a).
- 1965
He can examine this electronic ‘drawing’ in detail by zooming in on selected portions of it.
Western Machinery & Steel World October 29/2 - 1984
The program redraws the recording so that the portion selected fills the screen. One can zoom again, and again, and again.
Tekalike, a Tektronix Terminal Emulator in fa.info-mac 16 November (Usenet newsgroup, accessed 24 Nov. 2016) - 2005
Click to select the tool, then click on the image to zoom in.
et al., Creative Scrapbooking with your Computer iv. 108/2