zip line, n.

zip-line
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zip-line_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 2011

# zip linenoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zip line mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zip line. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the noun zip line?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

2017 | 0.32
2018 | 0.27
2019 | 0.26
2020 | 0.25
2021 | 0.23
2022 | 0.21
2023 | 0.23
2024 | 0.23

### How is the noun zip line pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɪp lʌɪn/
ZIP lighn

#### U.S. English

/ˈzɪp ˌlaɪn/
ZIP lighn

### Where does the noun zip line come from?

Earliest known use

1970s

The earliest known use of the noun zip line is in the 1970s.

OED's earliest evidence for zip line is from 1970, in Caribou County Sun (Soda Springs, Idaho).

zip line is formed within English, by compounding.

Etymons: zip v.1, line n.2

### Nearby entries

1. zip cuff, v. 1996–
2. Zipf, n. 1936–
3. zip fastener, n. 1925–
4. zip fastening, n. & adj. 1925–
5. zip gun, n. 1914–
6. Ziph, n. 1834–
7. ziphian, n. & adj. 1896
8. ziphiiform, adj. 1891
9. ziphioid, adj. & n. 1861–
10. zipless, adj. 1922–
11. zip line, n.1970–
12. zip line, v. 1998–
13. zipliner, n. 1993–
14. zip lining, n.?1983–
15. zip-lipped, adj. 1943–
16. ziplock, n. 1928–
17. zipped, adj. 1931–
18. zippeite, n. 1850–
19. zipper, n. 1923–
20. zipper, v. 1927–
21. zippered, adj. 1926–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by compounding.
< zip v.1 + line n.2

Compare zip wire n.

## Meaning & use

1. 1970–
   An inclined cable or rope stretched between two points down which people slide by means of a suspended pulley, harness, or handle, often as a recreational activity. Cf. zip wire n.
   1. 1970

      > A jump off lava cliffs on the zip lines.

      Caribou County Sun (Soda Springs, Idaho) 18 June 10/4
   2. 1983

      > What they have to do is..cross a short two-line walk from one tree to the next 35 feet above the ground and speed down through the trees on a zip line.

      Scouting January 56
   3. 2010

      > Once they dug a bunker, another time they rigged a zip line up between trees.

      S. Junger, War i. i. 12

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɪp lʌɪn/
ZIP lighn

### U.S. English

/ˈzɪp ˌlaɪn/
ZIP lighn

####

##### 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 /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

##### 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 /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.

##### 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

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

zip line 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 zip line, n., 1970–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1970 | 0.005
1980 | 0.007
1990 | 0.007
2000 | 0.007
2010 | 0.0087

### Frequency of zip line, 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 | 0.32
2018 | 0.27
2019 | 0.26
2020 | 0.25
2021 | 0.23
2022 | 0.21
2023 | 0.23
2024 | 0.23

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zip lining, n. ?1983–
   The act of sliding down a zip line (zip line…

1. zipliner, n. 1993–
   A person who slides down a zip line (zip line…

1. zip line, v. 1998–
   intransitive. To slide down a zip line (zip line…

Originally published as part of the entry for zip, int. & n.¹

zip line, n. was first published in December 2011.

zip line, n. was last modified in July 2023.