zero post, n.

zero-post
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zero-post_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zero postnoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zero post mean?

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

### How common is the noun zero post?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1900 | 0.0011
1910 | 0.0008
1920 | 0.0007
1930 | 0.0006
1940 | 0.0002
1950 | 0.0001
1960 | 0.0002
1970 | 0.0003
1980 | 0.0004
1990 | 0.0005
2000 | 0.0005
2010 | 0.0006

### Where does the noun zero post come from?

Earliest known use

1900s

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

OED's earliest evidence for zero post is from 1908, in Daily Chronicle.

### Nearby entries

1. zero magnet, n. 1890–
2. zero mark, n. 1821–
3. zero meridian, n. 1849–
4. zero norm, n. 1966–
5. zero option, n. 1976–
6. zero-order, adj. 1919–
7. zero plane, n. 1842–
8. zero point, n. 1789–
9. zero-point energy, n. 1913–
10. zero population growth, n. 1955–
11. zero post, n.1908–
12. zero-power, adj. 1950–
13. zero-rate, v. 1972–
14. zero-rated, adj. 1972–
15. zero rating, n. 1971–
16. zero sound, n. 1957–
17. zero-sum, adj. 1944–
18. zeroth, adj. 1850–
19. zero tillage, n. 1963–
20. zero tolerance, n. 1940–
21. zerovalent, adj. 1906–

## Meaning & use

1. 1908–
   A post from which distances along roads or railway lines are measured; cf. zero mark n.
   1. 1908

      > The zero posts which formerly stood on the present site of the Marble Arch, and at Hyde-park-corner.

      Daily Chronicle 9 January 3/3
   2. 1924

      > Workmen are putting up what is known as the zero post of the Magnolia Route at the intersection of 14th Street and 25th Avenue.

      Daily Herald (Gulfport & Biloxi, Mississippi) 20 October 4/2
   3. 1983

      > Railway branch lines have zero posts; there is one at Shipley.

      Country Life 15 September 676/3
   railways
   1. zero mark 1821–
      a. A mark on a scale or instrument from which a positive or negative quantity is reckoned; b. a mark from which distances along roads or railway…
   2. zero post 1908–
      A post from which distances along roads or railway lines are measured; cf. zero mark, n.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

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

zero post 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 zero post, n., 1900–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1900 | 0.0011
1910 | 0.0008
1920 | 0.0007
1930 | 0.0006
1940 | 0.0002
1950 | 0.0001
1960 | 0.0002
1970 | 0.0003
1980 | 0.0004
1990 | 0.0005
2000 | 0.0005
2010 | 0.0006

Originally published as part of the entry for zero, n. & adj.

zero, n. & adj. was revised in June 2018.