zooful, n.

zooful
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zooful_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 2017

# zoofulnoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zooful mean?

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

### How common is the noun zooful?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1940 | 0.0005
1950 | 0.0005
1960 | 0.0005
1970 | 0.0005
1980 | 0.0004
1990 | 0.0004
2000 | 0.0004
2010 | 0.0004

### Where does the noun zooful come from?

Earliest known use

1910s

The earliest known use of the noun zooful is in the 1910s.

OED's earliest evidence for zooful is from 1914, in the writing of A. B. Spens.

### Nearby entries

1. zooculture, n. 1873–
2. zoocytium, n. 1880–
3. zoodendrium, n. 1880–
4. Zoodikers, int. 1749–98
5. zoodynamic, adj.?1819–
6. zoodynamics, n. 1888–
7. zooecial, adj. 1873–
8. zooecium, n. 1871–
9. zooerythrin, n. 1871–
10. zooflagellate, n. & adj. 1911–
11. zooful, n.1914–
12. zoofulvin, n. 1871–
13. zoogamete, n. 1879–
14. zoogene, n. 1820–69
15. zoogenic, adj. 1842–
16. zoogeny, n. 1826–
17. zoogeographer, n. 1868–
18. zoogeographic, adj. 1875–
19. zoogeographical, adj. 1864–
20. zoogeographically, adv. 1883–
21. zoogeography, n. 1851–

## Meaning & use

1. 1914–
   A quantity (of animals) that would fill a zoo; (in extended use) a large group (of people), often characterized as boisterous, noisy, etc.
   Stressed as ˈzooful.
   1. 1914

      > A few of the Indians were apparently busy, but the great majority squatted in the sun, chattering like a zooful of monkeys.

      A. B. Spens, Winter in India 52
   2. 1974

      > He's got a zooful of friends, too.

      S. King, Carrie (1975) 100
   3. 1991

      > A school bus pulled up beside the schoolyard and disgorged a zooful of primary schoolers.

      D. Richler, Kicking Tomorrow vi. 100
   4. 2011

      > Well-loved poet introduces a veritable zooful of real and imaginary animals.

      Times (Nexis) 15 October 32
   measurement
   1. houseful c1300–
      A quantity (of people) that fills a house; as much or as many as a house can hold. Frequently with of.
   2. shopful 1613–
      As much or as many as a shop will hold. Hence: a very large amount or number.
   3. churchful 1779–
      The whole number or quantity of people to be found in a church; (also) as many or as much as a church will contain.
   4. stableful 1834–
      As much or as many as fills a stable.
   5. officeful 1845–
      The whole number or quantity of people or things to be found in an office; (also) an amount which would fill an office.
   6. warehouseful 1859–
   7. coteful 1865–
      As many as fill a cote.
   8. zooful 1914–
      A quantity (of animals) that would fill a zoo; (in extended use) a large group (of people), often characterized as boisterous, noisy, etc.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. frape c1330–1710
      A crowd; a mob, the rabble.
   2. rabble a1398–
      A disorderly, disorganized, or unruly crowd; a boisterous throng of people; a mob.
   3. raffle a1450–
      †A group (of young men or boys) (obsolete). Also: a group of worthless or contemptible people, riff-raff; a rowdy group of people, a rabble (also…
   4. unlawful assembly 1485–
      An illegal gathering of people; spec. (English Law) a gathering of three or more people who intend to commit an act of violence or breach of the…
   5. rabblement 1543–
      A disorderly, disorganized, or unruly crowd; = rabble, n.¹ A.I.1a. Frequently with of. Now chiefly literary or Scottish and English regional (northern…
   6. rabble rout?1589–
      = rabble, n.¹ A.I.1a, A.I.1b.
   7. ringat-rangat a1600
      Disorderly, disorganized, or unruly people.
   8. hurry 1620–1716
      concrete. A confused crowd, a mob. Obsolete. rare.
   9. ribble-rabble 1635–
      Motley, disorderly, or unruly people; rabble; (as a count noun) an unruly crowd. Also: confusion, disorderliness; a confused state.
   10. tempest 1746–
       A confused or tumultuous throng; †a crowded assembly: cf. hurricane, n. 2b (obsolete); a rushing or tearing crowd.
   11. cohue 1850–
       An unruly crowd; a mob.
   12. pig pile 1880–
       A disordered mass or heap of people, formed around an individual on whom others jump. Also figurative. Cf. dog pile, n. 1.
   13. dog pile 1921–
       A disordered mass or heap of people, formed around an individual on whom others jump. Also figurative. Cf. pig pile, n.
   14. scrummage 1968–
       A disorderly crowd of people or things; = scrum, n. 2b.
   15. scrimmage 1971–
       A disorderly crowd of people or things. Cf. scrummage, n. 3.
   16. zooful 1974–
       A quantity (of animals) that would fill a zoo; (in extended use) a large group (of people), often characterized as boisterous, noisy, etc.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zooful typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zooful is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 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 zooful, n., 1940–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1940 | 0.0005
1950 | 0.0005
1960 | 0.0005
1970 | 0.0005
1980 | 0.0004
1990 | 0.0004
2000 | 0.0004
2010 | 0.0004

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

zooful, n. was first published in 2017.