zeroizing, n.

zeroizing
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zeroizing_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zeroizingnoun

## Factsheet

### Where does the noun zeroizing come from?

Earliest known use

1900s

The earliest known use of the noun zeroizing is in the 1900s.

OED's earliest evidence for zeroizing is from 1903, in Patents for Inventions: Abridgm. Specif. Class 100, Printing, Letterpress & Lithographic 1897–1900.

### How common is the noun zeroizing?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1910 | 0.0003
1920 | 0.0003
1930 | 0.0002
1940 | 0.0002
1950 | 0.0002
1960 | 0.0001
1970 | 0.0001
1980 | 0.0001
1990 | 0.0001
2000 | 0.0001
2010 | 0.00009

### Nearby entries

1. zero grade, n. 1888–
2. zero gravity, n. & adj. 1915–
3. zero-graze, v. 1954–
4. zero-grazed, adj. 1958–
5. zero grazing, n. 1954–
6. zero growth, n. 1907–
7. zero hour, n. 1915–
8. zero-hours, adj. 1988–
9. zeroing, n. 1906–
10. zeroize, v. 1894–
11. zeroizing, n.1903–
12. zero-length, adj. 1945–
13. zero-line, n. 1834–
14. zero magnet, n. 1890–
15. zero mark, n. 1821–
16. zero meridian, n. 1849–
17. zero norm, n. 1966–
18. zero option, n. 1976–
19. zero-order, adj. 1919–
20. zero plane, n. 1842–
21. zero point, n. 1789–

## Meaning & use

1. 1903–
   See zeroize v.
   Stressed as ˈzeroizing.
   1. 1903

      > ‘Zeroizing’ is effected by turning the shaft in the direction of the arrow.

      Patents for Inventions: Abridgm. Specif. Class 100, Printing, Letterpress & Lithographic 1897–1900 464
   2. 1956

      > The other major control is the zeroizing or clearance key or handle at the right-hand side of the keyboard.

      G. A. Montgomerie, Digital Calculating Machines ii. 28
   3. 2002

      > An emergency clear function should be implemented to allow for the ‘zeroising’ of all secret keys in case of the immediate danger of the ship being boarded.

      R. J. Sutton, Secure Communications iii. 69
   measurement
   1. calibration 1871–
      The action or process of calibrating. Also, a set of graduations or markings; a classification. Also attributive.
   2. zeroizing 1903–
   3. zeroing 1906–
      The adjustment of an instrument or device to give a reading of zero, esp. for the purposes of calibration.
   4. auto-zeroing 1967–
      a. n. The automatic adjustment of an instrument to give a zero reading or zero input; b. adj. (of a device) that has this facility.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zeroizing typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zeroizing is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 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 zeroizing, n., 1910–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1910 | 0.0003
1920 | 0.0003
1930 | 0.0002
1940 | 0.0002
1950 | 0.0002
1960 | 0.0001
1970 | 0.0001
1980 | 0.0001
1990 | 0.0001
2000 | 0.0001
2010 | 0.00009

Originally published as part of the entry for zeroize, v.

zeroize, v. was revised in June 2018.