zone refinernoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zone refiner mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zone refiner. 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 zone refiner?
| 1950 | 0.0042 |
| 1960 | 0.0035 |
| 1970 | 0.003 |
| 1980 | 0.0026 |
| 1990 | 0.0021 |
| 2000 | 0.0009 |
| 2010 | 0.0008 |
Where does the noun zone refiner come from?
Earliest known use
1950s
The earliest known use of the noun zone refiner is in the 1950s.
OED's earliest evidence for zone refiner is from 1959, in the Times (London).
Nearby entries
- zoneless, adj.1748–
- zonelet, n.1855–
- zone level, v.1974–
- zone leveller, n.1956–
- zone levelling, n.1953–
- zone-melt, v.1982–
- zone melting, n.1952–
- zone plate, n.1890–
- zoner, n.1962–
- zone-refine, v.1962–
- zone refiner, n.1959–
- zone refining, n.1952–
- zone therapy, n.1915–
- zone time, n.1908–
- Zonian, n.1910–
- zonic, adj.1797–
- zoning, n.a1821–
- zonite, n.1860–
- zonitic, adj.1888–
- zonk, v.1950–
- zonk, int.1949–
Meaning & use
- 1959–An apparatus used for zone refining.
- 1959
It will be possible to obtain high quality single-crystal rods after a few passes in the zone-refiner.
Times 24 November 19/7 - 1980
A novel zone refiner is described, in which a single helical heater rotates in an annular sample space.
Analytical Chemistry vol. 52 1738/1
- zone leveller1956–An apparatus used for zone levelling.
- zone refiner1959–An apparatus used for zone refining.
Frequency
zone refiner typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zone refiner 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 of zone refiner, n., 1950–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1950 | 0.0042 |
| 1960 | 0.0035 |
| 1970 | 0.003 |
| 1980 | 0.0026 |
| 1990 | 0.0021 |
| 2000 | 0.0009 |
| 2010 | 0.0008 |