zinc-dust, n.

zinc-dust
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zinc-dust_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1921; not fully revised

# zinc-dustnoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zinc-dust mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zinc-dust. 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 noun zinc-dust?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1870 | 0.023
1880 | 0.027
1890 | 0.026
1900 | 0.023
1910 | 0.022
1920 | 0.021
1930 | 0.017
1940 | 0.012
1950 | 0.0056
1960 | 0.0029
1970 | 0.0024
1980 | 0.0018
1990 | 0.0014
2000 | 0.0011
2010 | 0.0012

### Where does the noun zinc-dust come from?

Earliest known use

1870s

The earliest known use of the noun zinc-dust is in the 1870s.

OED's only evidence for zinc-dust is from 1877, in Journal of Chemical Society.

### Nearby entries

1. Zincala, n. 1844–91
2. Zincalo, n. 1841–
3. zinc-alum, n. 1851–
4. zinc-amide, n. 1859–
5. zincate, n. 1872–
6. zinc-blende, n. 1842–
7. zinc-bloom, n. 1842–
8. zinc chloride, n. 1851–
9. zinc chromate, n. 1851–
10. zinc chrome, n. 1892–
11. zinc-dust, n.1877–
12. zinc finger, n. 1987–
13. zinc-foil, n. 1851–
14. zinc green, n. 1847–
15. zinc-grey | zinc-gray, n. 1881–
16. zincian, adj. 1930–
17. zincic, adj. 1860–
18. zinciferous, adj. 1820–
19. zincification, n. 1891–
20. zincify, v. 1801–
21. zinc-iron, n. & adj. 1849–

## Meaning & use

1. 1877–
   Zinc in the form of fine powder (often mixed with zinc oxide and other impurities), obtained by grinding, or in the extraction of zinc from its ores, and used as a deoxidizing agent and as a paint (see zinc-grey n.).
   1. 1877

      > Action of Zinc-dust on the Chlorides of Sulphoparabromobenzoic Acid.

      Journal of Chemical Society vol. 32 468
   chemistry
   1. lac 1558–1820
      Originally: any of various red paints or pigments made from organic and inorganic materials other than lac. In later use more generally: a pigment…
   2. purpurin 1558–1775
      Powdered brass or bronze mixed with liquid and used as a colouring material. Obsolete.
   3. colourish 1598–1691
      A colouring matter used to give the appearance of gold. Also figurative.
   4. earth 1598–
      = earth colour, n. A.1. Frequently with distinguishing word. Cf. earth pigment, n.
   5. watercolour 1598–
      A type of artists' paint made with a water-soluble binder and thinned with water rather than oil (frequently in plural). Also as a mass noun…
   6. earth colour 1658–
      A pigment obtained from an earth (earth, n.¹ IV.16), as an ochre or umber.
   7. encaustic 1662
      A pigment or glaze applied by ‘burning in’.
   8. lake 1684–
      In extended sense: A pigment obtained by the combination of animal, vegetable, or coal-tar colouring matter with some metallic oxide or earth…
   9. virgin tint 1706–
      A brilliant tint, such as appears clearly to be of a given colour, without shading closer to white or black; (also) a tint made up of only two…
   10. mosaic gold 1746–
       A gold-coloured metallic powder, consisting mainly of tin disulfide, used in decorating wood, etc. Also called aurum mosaicum, aurum musivum, bronze p…
   11. bronze 1753–
       (More fully bronze powder: see compounds C.2): A metallic powder (usually brass, copper, or tin) used in painting, printing, and the like.
   12. gold bronze 1769–
       A metallic powder containing or resembling gold, used in paints and other decorative coatings (cf. bronze, n. 4).
   13. cake colour 1784–
       Paint or pigment prepared or sold in the form of a cake.
   14. musive gold 1796
       = mosaic gold, n. 2.
   15. sap-colour 1816–
       (See quot. 1816).
   16. repaint 1827–
       A paint used in repainting; a layer of colour added in repainting.
   17. moist colour 1842–
       A watercolour paint in the form of a soft paste.
   18. bronze powder 1846–
       = bronze, n. 4.
   19. wax-colour 1854–
       a. A pigment ground with wax for encaustic painting; b. the yellow colour of wax.
   20. wax pigment 1854–
       A pigment prepared with wax.
   21. bitumen 1855–
       A pigment prepared from asphalt.
   22. alkali blue 1873–
       Any of various blue dyes which are applied or remain fast in alkaline conditions; spec. any of a series of sodium salts of phenylated rosaniline…
   23. chrome garnet 1876–
       A pigment prepared from basic chromate of lead.
   24. zinc-dust 1877–
       Zinc in the form of fine powder (often mixed with zinc oxide and other impurities), obtained by grinding, or in the extraction of zinc from its…
   25. zinc-powder 1881–
       = zinc-dust, n.
   26. terra nera 1882–
       Used, with qualifying adjectives, to form the names of medicinal and other earths, boles, and the like… See quot.
   27. earth pigment 1900–
       = earth colour, n. A.1.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. white rust 1677–
      A white coating or discoloration produced on the surface of various metals by exposure to moist air or other corrosive agents; esp. (in early use)…
   2. zinc chloride 1851–
      A white, crystalline, deliquescent solid, ZnCl2, used as a preservative, a flux, and in Leclanché cells.
   3. zinc sulphide 1851–
      A yellow, water-insoluble powder, ZnS, used as a pigment and as a phosphor.
   4. zinc-dust 1877–
      Zinc in the form of fine powder (often mixed with zinc oxide and other impurities), obtained by grinding, or in the extraction of zinc from its…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zinc-dust typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zinc-dust 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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zinc-dust, n., 1870–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1870 | 0.023
1880 | 0.027
1890 | 0.026
1900 | 0.023
1910 | 0.022
1920 | 0.021
1930 | 0.017
1940 | 0.012
1950 | 0.0056
1960 | 0.0029
1970 | 0.0024
1980 | 0.0018
1990 | 0.0014
2000 | 0.0011
2010 | 0.0012

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

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