zephyrverb
Factsheet
What does the verb zephyr mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the verb zephyr. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the verb zephyr?
| 1820 | 0.0095 |
| 1830 | 0.0089 |
| 1840 | 0.0088 |
| 1850 | 0.0086 |
| 1860 | 0.0077 |
| 1870 | 0.008 |
| 1880 | 0.0083 |
| 1890 | 0.0077 |
| 1900 | 0.0073 |
| 1910 | 0.0063 |
| 1920 | 0.0057 |
| 1930 | 0.0046 |
| 1940 | 0.0036 |
| 1950 | 0.0026 |
| 1960 | 0.002 |
| 1970 | 0.0017 |
| 1980 | 0.0016 |
| 1990 | 0.0015 |
| 2000 | 0.0015 |
| 2010 | 0.0015 |
How is the verb zephyr pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the verb zephyr come from?
Earliest known use
1820s
The earliest known use of the verb zephyr is in the 1820s.
OED's earliest evidence for zephyr is from 1829, in Universal Songster.
It is also recorded as a noun from the Old English period (pre-1150).
zephyr is formed within English, by conversion.
Etymons: zephyr n.
Nearby entries
- zeolitic, adj.1782–
- zeolitical, adj.1788–
- zeolitically, adv.1926–
- zeolitiform, adj.1788–
- zeolitization, n.1879–
- zeolitize, v.1881–
- zeolitized, adj.1888–
- Zephiran, n.1935–
- Zéphirine Drouhin, n.1901–
- zephyr, n.Old English–
- zephyr, v.1829–
- zephyranth, n.1845–
- zephyranthes, n.1821–
- zephyrean, adj.1793–
- zephyret, n.1777–1881
- zephyr flower, n.?1829–
- zephyr-gale, n.1596–1901
- zephyrian, adj.1661–
- zephyrine, adj. & n.1819–
- zephyring, adj.1821–
- zephyrless, adj.a1821–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1829–intransitive. Of a wind: to blow gently or mildly. In extended use: to move gently or softly in the manner of a breeze; to waft, to drift. Cf. breeze v.2In quot. 1829 transitive: to blow on gently or mildly.
- 1829
Mr. Windham in Air-street gets zephyred to rest.
Universal Songster vol. II. 307/2 - 1879
He has often in his sleep talked of ‘blue doctors’,..these sounds having been heard in the small hours of the morning zephyring from his tent with nasal accompaniments.
R. T. Pritchett, Gamle Norge: Rambles & Scrambles in Norway 26 - 1903
A traveling man who zephyred into Washington the other day.
Washington Post 17 May e5 - 1922
An aura zephyring round, That care infected not.
T. Hardy, Late Lyrics & Earlier 111 - 1973
A light little breeze zephyred in..from the open water.
J. Jones, Touch of Danger xxiii. 131 - 2012
I am benefitting from the gentle breeze zephyring though the pretty planting of the window box.
Business & Finance Magazine (Nexis) 8 August
the world the earth weather and the atmosphere weather wind [intransitive verbs] blow (of the wind) blow gently- breathe1567–intransitive. Of the wind, the air, etc.: to blow softly. With adverbial or prepositional phrase indicating place or direction.
- perspire1648intransitive. Of a wind: to breathe or blow gently. Obsolete. rare.
- breeze1682–intransitive. To blow gently, as a breeze. rare.
- waft1804–Of the breeze: To blow softly.
- sniffle1885–transferred. Of a breeze. (Cf. sniffler, n.)
- zephyr1973–intransitive. Of a wind: to blow gently or mildly. In extended use: to move gently or softly in the manner of a breeze; to waft, to drift. Cf. breeze…
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
Frequency
zephyr typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zephyr 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 zephyr, v., 1820–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1820 | 0.0095 |
| 1830 | 0.0089 |
| 1840 | 0.0088 |
| 1850 | 0.0086 |
| 1860 | 0.0077 |
| 1870 | 0.008 |
| 1880 | 0.0083 |
| 1890 | 0.0077 |
| 1900 | 0.0073 |
| 1910 | 0.0063 |
| 1920 | 0.0057 |
| 1930 | 0.0046 |
| 1940 | 0.0036 |
| 1950 | 0.0026 |
| 1960 | 0.002 |
| 1970 | 0.0017 |
| 1980 | 0.0016 |
| 1990 | 0.0015 |
| 2000 | 0.0015 |
| 2010 | 0.0015 |
Compounds & derived words
- zephyring, adj. 1821–Attended by or characterized by zephyrs; blowing…