zoot-suiternoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zoot-suiter mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zoot-suiter. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun zoot-suiter?
| 1940 | 0.015 |
| 1950 | 0.016 |
| 1960 | 0.015 |
| 1970 | 0.015 |
| 1980 | 0.014 |
| 1990 | 0.014 |
| 2000 | 0.015 |
| 2010 | 0.014 |
Where does the noun zoot-suiter come from?
Earliest known use
1940s
The earliest known use of the noun zoot-suiter is in the 1940s.
OED's earliest evidence for zoot-suiter is from 1942, in Indianapolis News.
Nearby entries
- zootokon, n.1661
- zootomic, adj.1801–
- zootomical, adj.1799–
- zootomically, adv.1849–
- zootomist, n.1663–
- zootomy, n.1663–
- zootoxin, n.1906–
- zootrophy, n.1877–
- zoot suit, n.1942–
- zoot-suited, adj.1942–
- zoot-suiter, n.1942–
- zooty, adj.1942–
- zootype, n.1883–
- zootypic, adj.1853–
- zoowoman, n.1930–
- zooxanthella, n.1882–
- zooxanthellate, adj. & n.1981–
- zooxanthin, n.1868–
- zoozygosphere, n.1880–
- zope, n.1880–
- zophoric, adj.1728–
Meaning & use
- 1942–A person who wears a zoot suit; spec. a member of a group or gang of young men characterized by wearing zoot suits.Stressed as ˈzoot-suiter.
- 1942
When they play this at the Trianon, and the ‘zoot’ suiters start swinging—well, brothers, it's like Fourth of July in a zoo with the lion and the tiger as joint masters of ceremonies.
Indianapolis News 5 February 9/2 - 1952
A group of zoot-suiters greeted me in passing. ‘Hey, now, daddy-o,’ they called.
R. Ellison, Invisible Man xxiii. 366 - 1972
It was almost twenty years [ago]... It was real bad then. We had B-girls and zoot-suiters and lots of crooks.
J. Wambaugh, Blue Knight (1973) i. 18 - 2002
Harvey Keitel, jiving like the last of the zoot-suiters.
Vanity Fair April 218/1
- Sunday citizen1598–A citizen dressed in Sunday clothes; (in later use more generally) one engaging in the customary religious or leisure activities of a Sunday.
- longcoat1603–55A person who wears, or is regarded as characteristically wearing, a long coat or long coats, as a young child, a fool, etc. Also attributive…
- lettice ruffa1625Probably: a person wearing a ruff with flattened curves resembling those of a lettuce leaf.
- silkworma1625–One who wears a silken gown or dress. Used contemptuously. rare.
- copester1637A wearer of a cope, i.e. a monk.
- Curtmantlea1638A person who wears a short cloak. Obsolete.
- short-coat1649–A person wearing a short coat. Also attributive in short-coat vicarage n. Obsolete (meaning obscure).
- Scotch-sleeve?1706(Probably) a person wearing sleeves of Scotch cloth; cf. quot. 1705 at Scotch cloth, n.
- Evite1713–A name humorously applied to a woman wearing little clothing.
- uniform1786–A person wearing a uniform. rare.
- nude1810A woman who wears very low-necked dresses. Obsolete. rare.
- blue-stockinged1818–With the. Blue-stockinged people collectively. Also figurative. Now rare.
- waistcoateer1825–A person wearing a waistcoat of a specified fashion.
- padder1828–A person who or thing which pads (in various senses of pad, v.²).
- stook of duds1834–(See quot. 1904).
- bloomer1851–A woman who wears bloomer costume.
- sleeve1851–In University use: A gown having sleeves, or one who wears such a gown.
- cope-man1853–A person wearing a cope.
- shirt1860–figurative and in extended use. A person who wears a shirt of a particular colour as an emblem or uniform of a political (esp. nationalist or…
- shirtwaister1900A person who wears a shirtwaist (shirtwaist, n. 1). Obsolete. rare.
- DJ1926–A dinner jacket.
- rat-catcher1928–colloquial. A person wearing such an item or items. rare.
- sweater girl1940–A girl, esp. a model or actress, who wears tight-fitting sweaters; originally a name applied to the American actress Lana Turner (1921–95) who wore…
- zoot-suiter1942–A person who wears a zoot suit; spec. a member of a group or gang of young men characterized by wearing zoot suits.
- Edwardian1954–A person wearing clothes of Edwardian style; a ‘Teddy boy’.
- penguin1967–humorous or derogatory. A man wearing black-and-white evening dress, esp. one having a stiff or pompous demeanour. Cf. penguin suit, n. (a).
- overcoat1969–A person who (habitually) wears an overcoat; one who is typified by this.
Frequency
zoot-suiter typically occurs about 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zoot-suiter 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 of zoot-suiter, 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 | 0.015 |
| 1950 | 0.016 |
| 1960 | 0.015 |
| 1970 | 0.015 |
| 1980 | 0.014 |
| 1990 | 0.014 |
| 2000 | 0.015 |
| 2010 | 0.014 |