zoominghttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zooming_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_usezooming, n.
Revised 2017

zoomingnoun

  1. 1.
    1892–
    The action or an instance of making a buzzing, humming, or droning sound, esp. as a result of moving at speed; the action or an instance of moving with, or as if with, such a sound.
    1. 1892
      Amid..the scraping and zooming of the instruments, string and reed.
      ‘Q’, I saw Three Ships i
    2. 1921
      The drone of his father's voice came to him where he knelt, losing itself in the zooming of the bee.
      S. Desmond, Gods i. 3
    3. 1945
      The whole night was hideous with roarings and zoomings of planes landing and taking off.
      D. Friend, Diary 7 February (2003) vol. II. 207
    4. 1981
      We can hardly wait for..the zooming of the Roman candles that suddenly make the sky ablaze.
      Kenosha (Wisconsin) News 1 July 10/1
    5. 2003
      The zooming of cars can be heard throughout the city.
      New York Times (Nexis) 25 May v. 12/1
  2. 2.
    1917–
    Aeronautics. The action of making a steep climb while flying at high speed. Cf. zoom v.1 2.
    1. 1917
      Zooming’ is..frequently the only means of avoiding an obstacle when flying low.
      Daily Mail 19 July 4/5
    2. 1971
      Sudden halts, followed by more or less prolonged zooming, dives, loops.
      Drama Review vol. 15 129
    3. 1999
      If one neglects the dissipative effect of drag, zooming merely trades kinetic energy for potential energy.
      J. T. Lowry, Performance Light Aircraft ix. 300
  3. 3.
    1934–
    Cinematography and Photography. The action of changing smoothly from a long shot with a lens, camera, etc., to a close-up or vice versa; the action of increasing or decreasing magnification of an image smoothly and quickly; cf. zoom v.1 3, 4. Frequently with in, out. Often attributive.
    1. 1934
      By reason of the fact that our invention provides for universal focus, it is possible to have the feature of varying the size of the subject or object in the picture, i. e., what is known in the moving picture art as ‘zooming’.
      U.S. Patent 1,955,850 6/1
    2. 1961
      The zoom angle can be adjusted anywhere in the zooming range.
      G. Millerson, Technique of Television Production iii. 34 (caption)
    3. 1974
      Zooming in serves to pinpoint features of particular interest, while zooming out can establish the context of what may appear to be an isolated object.
      Hist. Teacher vol. 7 544
    4. 1989
      Tasco 7–15×35 binoculars. Featuring zooming lever for smooth action.
      Grattan Direct Catalogue Spring–Summer 898/1
    5. 2005
      Zooming in reveals superb detail, which you'd expect from a camera with this many image sensors.
      Digital Photographer No. 31. 105/1
    6. 2015
      The Digital Crown, a device for zooming that compensated for the difficulty of pinching or spreading fingers on a tiny screen, was ordered up by the studio.
      New Yorker 23 February 135/3

Originally published as part of the entry for zoom, v.¹

zooming, n. was revised in June 2017.

zooming, n. was last modified in July 2023.