zone refiner, n.

zone-refiner
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zone-refiner_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1986; not fully revised

# 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?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

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

1. zoneless, adj. 1748–
2. zonelet, n. 1855–
3. zone level, v. 1974–
4. zone leveller, n. 1956–
5. zone levelling, n. 1953–
6. zone-melt, v. 1982–
7. zone melting, n. 1952–
8. zone plate, n. 1890–
9. zoner, n. 1962–
10. zone-refine, v. 1962–
11. zone refiner, n.1959–
12. zone refining, n. 1952–
13. zone therapy, n. 1915–
14. zone time, n. 1908–
15. Zonian, n. 1910–
16. zonic, adj. 1797–
17. zoning, n. a1821–
18. zonite, n. 1860–
19. zonitic, adj. 1888–
20. zonk, v. 1950–
21. zonk, int. 1949–

## Meaning & use

1. 1959–
   An apparatus used for zone refining.
   1. 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
   2. 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
   metal industry
   1. zone leveller 1956–
      An apparatus used for zone levelling.
   2. zone refiner 1959–
      An apparatus used for zone refining.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## 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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### 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

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

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