zone level, v.

zone-level
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zone-level_v%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1986; not fully revised

# zone levelverb

## Factsheet

### What does the verb zone level mean?

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

#### Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

### How common is the verb zone level?

About 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1970 | 0.011
1980 | 0.011
1990 | 0.011
2000 | 0.011
2010 | 0.011

### Where does the verb zone level come from?

Earliest known use

1970s

The earliest known use of the verb zone level is in the 1970s.

OED's only evidence for zone level is from 1974, in Journal of Physics D.

### Nearby entries

1. zonation, n. 1898–
2. zone, n. a1500–
3. zone, v. 1792–
4. zone centre | zone center, n. 1934–
5. zoned, adj. 1662–
6. zone defence | zone defense, n. 1927–
7. zone electrophoresis, n. 1952–
8. zone fossil, n. 1904–
9. zoneless, adj. 1748–
10. zonelet, n. 1855–
11. zone level, v.1974–
12. zone leveller, n. 1956–
13. zone levelling, n. 1953–
14. zone-melt, v. 1982–
15. zone melting, n. 1952–
16. zone plate, n. 1890–
17. zoner, n. 1962–
18. zone-refine, v. 1962–
19. zone refiner, n. 1959–
20. zone refining, n. 1952–
21. zone therapy, n. 1915–

## Meaning & use

1. 1974–
   (transitive) .
   1. 1974

      > The mixed alloy was then placed in a porcelain boat and zone-levelled by passing through 10–15 zones.

      Journal of Physics D vol. 7 33
   metal industry
   1. calcine c1386–
      To reduce to quick-lime, or to an analogous substance, by roasting or burning; ‘to burn in the fire to a calx or friable substance’ (Johnson).
   2. calcinate 1559–1626
      = calcine, v.
   3. calcinize 1606–56
      = calcine, v.
   4. cupel 1644–
      transitive. To assay or refine in a cupel; to subject to cupellation.
   5. decrepitate 1646–
      transitive. To calcine or roast (a salt or mineral) until it no longer crackles in the fire.
   6. scorify 1755–
      transitive. To reduce to scoria or slag.
   7. cupellate 1830–
      = cupel, v.
   8. retort 1850–
      transitive. To heat (amalgam, oil shale, etc.) in a retort in order to separate or purify substances.
   9. liquate 1864–
      Metallurgy. To liquefy metals in order to separate them or to free them from impurities. Also to liquate out.
   10. star 1886–
       intransitive. Metallurgy. Of antimony: to form a starlike pattern of radially arranged crystals upon cooling from the molten state, indicative of…
   11. zone-refine 1962–
       (transitive).
   12. zone level 1974–
       (transitive).
   13. zone-melt 1982–
       (transitive).
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zone level typically occurs about 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zone level 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 zone level, v., 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 | 0.011
1980 | 0.011
1990 | 0.011
2000 | 0.011
2010 | 0.011

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

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