Zamboninoun
Factsheet
What does the noun Zamboni mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun Zamboni. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
This word is used in North American English.
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 Zamboni?
| 2017 | 0.0068 |
| 2018 | 0.0078 |
| 2019 | 0.0063 |
| 2020 | 0.0041 |
| 2021 | 0.003 |
| 2022 | 0.0029 |
| 2023 | 0.0008 |
| 2024 | 0.0012 |
How is the noun Zamboni pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun Zamboni come from?
Earliest known use
1960s
The earliest known use of the noun Zamboni is in the 1960s.
OED's earliest evidence for Zamboni is from 1965, in Official Gazette.
From a proper name.
Nearby entries
- zamacueca, n.1855–
- Zamak, n.1926–
- zamang, n.1819–
- zamarra, n.1841–
- zama zama, n.2006–
- Zamazim, n.a1400–
- Zambian, adj. & n.1959–
- Zambianization, n.1964–
- Zambianize, v.1964–
- zambo, n.1819–
- Zamboni, n.1965–
- zambra, n.1672–
- zambuk, n.1906–
- zamburak, n.1825–
- zami, n.1977–
- Zamia, n.1819–
- zamindar, n.1683–
- zamindari, n. & adj.1742–
- zamindarship, n.1698–1902
- zamioid, adj.1860–
- zamorin, n.1582–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1965–A proprietary name for a machine used to resurface ice rinks.
- 1965
Frank J. Zamboni & Co., Paramount, Calif... Zamboni for ice resurfacing machines and dump attachments therefor. First use July 1962.
Official Gazette (U.S. Patent Office) 16 February tm93 - 1968
Zamboni... Machines for resurfacing ice rinks and parts and fittings therefor.
Trade Marks Journal 3 April 517/2 - 1974
With 12 scrapers, I could do that ice in nine minutes. With the Zamboni, it took a little longer..but I will have to admit it does do a better job.
Whig-Standard (Kingston, Ontario) 11 July 14/2 - 1978
A crack in the boards near the door used by the zamboni helped Guindon open the scoring.
Winnipeg Free Press 25 September 53/4 - 1984
Then the ice was glazed by a smooth-nosed French cousin of the Zamboni before another Soviet skater..glided to gold medals.
New York Times 11 February i. 22/6
- reeler1598–A device for winding yarn, paper, etc., on to a reel or reels; a reeling machine. Now chiefly Papermaking.
- driver1659–A wedge-shaped tool used by coopers in conjunction with a mallet to drive hoops on to a barrel. Also: a machine, or component of a machine, which…
- rubber1747–A part of some apparatus which operates by rubbing; a machine which acts by rubbing. Formerly also: †a brake acting by friction on the wheels of…
- dressing machine1795–a. A machine used for removing unwanted material from something in preparation for further refinement or processing; b. Printing a machine used for…
- heading machine1795–Manufacturing Technology. A machine for forming the heads on various small metal parts, esp. on fastenings such as nails and rivets.
- bruiser1809–Any machine, tool, or other implement used for bruising or crushing something, esp. a grain or fodder crop. Also with modifying word. Now chiefly…
- chipping machine1823–A machine used for breaking down material (esp. wood) into chips (cf. wood chipper, n.); spec. (in early use) such a machine used to prepare…
- finisher1835–spec. In various trades: The workman, or machine, that performs the final operation in manufacture.
- stripper1835–A machine or appliance for stripping.
- physionotype1836–A machine for taking casts and imprints of human faces.
- rotary1836–A rotary machine or engine; spec. a rotary printing press.
- tetraspaston1842–See quot.
- self-stripper1844–A device designed to automatically remove detritus from the cards of a carding machine.
- netting-machine1846–77
- speeder1847–A device or contrivance for quickening or regulating the speed of machinery; also, a kind of roving-machine used in cotton-manufacture.
- boxing machine1850–a. A machine used for boring a hole, esp. for the box of a wheel (cf. box, n.² II.7) (now chiefly historical); b. a machine used for packing items…
- dresser1855–Any of various machines used for removing unwanted material from something in preparation for further refinement or processing; a dressing machine.
- spacer1857–An object or device used to make a space, interval, or division; (also) a mechanism that regulates or controls spacing.
- starcher1862–A machine used to starch clothing, cloth, etc. Now rare.
- The action of bronze, v. Also attributive, as in bronzing liquid, machine, bronzing salt, etc.
- finishing machine1869–
- grader1869–A machine for ‘grading’ (in various senses).
- brain machine1872–A machine used to affect, examine, or monitor the brain.
- peanut roaster1872–a. A machine in which peanuts are roasted; b. U.S. slang, a vehicle, piece of machinery, etc., that puffs or hisses.
- bending machine1874–The action or process of shaping wood, iron, or other material by pressure instead of by cutting or casting. Chiefly attributive and in other…
- gadding car1874–A machine designed to drill straight lines of holes in rock for the insertion of gads, consisting of one or more rock drills mounted on a wheeled…
- screw-machine1876–More fully standard screw machine. A machine used for attaching soles to shoes by inserting and cutting off lengths of threaded wire. Now historical…
- gadding machine1877–A machine designed to drill straight lines of holes in rock for the insertion of gads, consisting of one or more rock drills mounted on a wheeled…
- (See quot.). See also under tyre, n.¹
- A device for bending hot-rolled rails.
- buncher?1881–One who or that which bunches; spec. a machine for forming bunches or collecting things in bunches.
- flax-breaker1889–= flax-brake, n.
- oscillator1889–An apparatus for generating oscillatory electric currents, or for generating electromagnetic waves by means of such currents. Also: a device for…
- fluoroscope1893–Medicine and Materials Science. An apparatus used to obtain an instantaneous X-ray image of an object (originally on a fluorescent screen, later…
- fluorometer1897–Medicine. An apparatus used in conjunction with a fluoroscope to locate accurately the position of foreign objects within the body. Now historical.
- mucker1916–Chiefly North American. A small excavator or digger.
- spray dryer1921–A machine or installation that performs spray drying.
- paver1926–A machine for depositing and spreading surfacing material for a road, etc.
- teabagger1940–A machine that makes tea bags; a company that makes or sells tea bags.
- texturizer1949–A machine or device designed to give something a particular texture. Also: a company involved in the texturizing of materials or products, esp. yarn.
- burster1950–A machine or device for bursting stationery (see burst, v. III.9d).
- icemaker1953–A machine designed to produce artificial ice for a skating rink or similar location.
- laminator1958–A machine for making laminates, esp. one for bonding paper or the like to plastic film.
- A mould open at both ends in which a structure of uniform cross-section is cast by filling it with concrete and continually moving and refilling…
- extruder1959–A machine that extrudes (see extrude, v.).
- Zamboni1965–A proprietary name for a machine used to resurface ice rinks.
- manipulator1968–More fully manipulator arm. Any mechanical device capable of manipulative operations resembling those of a human hand or arm.
- wave machine1968–An apparatus for producing waves in water.
- pipelayer1969–A person who or machine which lays pipes for water, gas, etc.
- walking machine1971–a. A machine which assists a person in walking; b. a machine which is able to walk and is controlled by a person.
- change-maker1979–a. U.S. a person who exchanges a sum of money for the same sum in a different denomination, especially as a profession; (also) any of various…
- A machine for pulling up brushwood by the roots.
- A machine for binding cigars in bundles.
Pronunciation
British English
U.S. English
Consonants
- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence
Vowels
- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
View the pronunciation model here.
Consonants
- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye*
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing
* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence
Vowels
- ifleece, happy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- ætrap, bath
- ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
- ɑrstart
- ɔcloth, thought
- ɔrnorth, force
- ʊfoot
- ugoose
- əstrut, comma
- ərnurse, letter
- ɪ(ə)rnear
- ɛ(ə)rsquare
- ʊ(ə)rcure
- eɪface
- aɪpride
- aʊmouth
- oʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ɑ̃gratin
- æ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
View the pronunciation model here.
Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.
Consonants
b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values
- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige
Vowels
- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot
Forms
Variant forms
Also zamboni.Frequency
Zamboni typically occurs about 0.07 times per million words in modern written English.
Zamboni 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 Zamboni, n., 1960–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1960 | 0.06 |
| 1970 | 0.064 |
| 1980 | 0.067 |
| 1990 | 0.067 |
| 2000 | 0.073 |
| 2010 | 0.077 |
Frequency of Zamboni, n., 2017–2024
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.
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 corpus.
| Period | Frequency per million words |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 0.0068 |
| 2018 | 0.0078 |
| 2019 | 0.0063 |
| 2020 | 0.0041 |
| 2021 | 0.003 |
| 2022 | 0.0029 |
| 2023 | 0.0008 |
| 2024 | 0.0012 |