zoom lens, n.

zoom-lens
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoom-lens_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zoom lensnoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zoom lens mean?

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

### How common is the noun zoom lens?

About 0.2occurrences per million words in modern written English

1930 | 0.0048
1940 | 0.025
1950 | 0.07
1960 | 0.12
1970 | 0.16
1980 | 0.21
1990 | 0.25
2000 | 0.26
2010 | 0.26

### Where does the noun zoom lens come from?

Earliest known use

1930s

The earliest known use of the noun zoom lens is in the 1930s.

OED's earliest evidence for zoom lens is from 1932, in Laredo (Texas) Times.

### Nearby entries

1. zoomania, n. 1807–
2. zoomantist, n. 1861
3. Zoomar, n. 1946–
4. zoomechanical, adj. 1897
5. zoomechanics, n. 1888–1903
6. zoomelanin, n. 1858–
7. zoometric, adj. 1892–
8. zoometry, n. 1878–
9. zooming, n. 1892–
10. zooming, adj. 1904–
11. zoom lens, n.1932–
12. zoomorph, n. 1883–
13. zoomorphic, adj. 1849–
14. zoomorphism, n. 1822–
15. zoomorphize, v. 1940–
16. zoomorphizing, n. 1895–
17. zoomorphosed, adj. 1955–
18. zoom shot, n. 1930–
19. zoomy, adj. 1931–
20. zoomythic, adj. 1889–
21. zoon, n. 1851–1905

## Meaning & use

1. 1932–
   A camera lens or lens assembly whose focal length (and hence the magnification and the field of view) can be smoothly varied, typically while keeping the image in focus (cf. varifocal adj. a).
   1. 1932

      > This lens, called a ‘zoom lens’, is an interconnected series of lens elements which permit changing magnifying power of the lens.

      Laredo (Texas) Times 27 June 1/7
   2. 1962

      > A zoom lens, one that would change its focal length.

      L. Deighton, Ipcress File xxiv. 154
   3. 1978

      > The drifting began. Like a huge, long pull-back on a zoom lens so that everything diminished.

      J. Gardner, Dancing Dodo xix. 146
   4. 2008

      > Use the telephoto end of your zoom lens.

      Sporting Shooter November 102/1
   photography
   1. telescopic lens 1765–
      A magnifying lens; (in later use) spec. a telephoto camera lens; cf. telephoto, adj. A.1; also figurative.
   2. portrait lens 1852–
      A compound photographic lens adapted for taking portraits, usually having a long focal length in relation to the size of the negative or plate.
   3. view lens 1852–
      A lens designed for use in photographing landscapes, esp. one capable of maintaining focus over the whole of the field of view.
   4. short-focus lens 1862–
      A focal point that is near to the lens; chiefly attributive, esp. in short-focus lens, spec., a photographic lens whose focal length is less than the…
   5. periscope 1865–90
      Photography. A kind of periscopic objective lens. Cf. periscopic, adj. 1. Obsolete.
   6. rectilinear 1867–
      Photography. A rectilinear lens. Frequently in rapid rectilinear.
   7. pantoscope 1868–94
      A very wide-angled photographic lens. Also figurative. Obsolete.
   8. wide-angle 1868–
      A wide-angle lens.
   9. long lens 1876–
      A lens with a long focal length, esp. as a camera attachment for taking photographs or filming from a great distance. Frequently attributive.
   10. apochromatic 1887–
       Epithet of an improved form of achromatic lens invented by Abbe. Also as n.: an apochromatic lens; in Photography further shortened to ˈapochroˌmat n.…
   11. anastigmat 1890–
       An anastigmatic lens or system of lenses.
   12. concentric lens 1890–
       A compound lens consisting of planoconvex and planoconcave lenses of such dimensions that the convex and concave surfaces of the combined lens…
   13. euryscope 1890–
       A rapid rectilinear photographic lens of wide aperture.
   14. landscape lens 1890–
       A lens used in photographing landscape.
   15. rectigraph 1890–
       A lens or system of lenses that is corrected for aberration so as to reproduce straight lines and parallel lines correctly. Also rectigraph lens. Cf…
   16. symmetrical 1890–
       Photography. Applied to a lens of symmetrical form; also elliptical as n. = symmetrical lens.
   17. concentric 1893–
       Photography. = concentric lens, n. rare.
   18. telelens 1893–
       = telephoto lens at telephoto, adj. A.1.
   19. telephoto 1894–
       A telephoto lens; a camera equipped with such a lens.
   20. monocle 1897–
       Photography. A simple, uncorrected lens, used to achieve soft focus, or (as a supplementary lens) to change focal length or add colour. Now chiefly…
   21. stigmat 1901–
       A stigmatic lens or combination of lenses: see stigmatic, adj. A.9.
   22. stigmatic 1902–
       Photography. A stigmatic lens or objective.
   23. Long Tom 1910–
       Photography slang. A high-powered telephoto camera lens. Also attributive, as Long Tom camera, Long Tom lens, etc.
   24. standard lens 1917–
       A camera lens with a focal length approximately equal to the diagonal of the negative, giving a field of view similar to that of the naked eye.
   25. zoom lens 1932–
       A camera lens or lens assembly whose focal length (and hence the magnification and the field of view) can be smoothly varied, typically while…
   26. Panavision 1955–
       A proprietary name for: a type of anamorphic lens producing a widescreen image. More generally: widescreen cinematography. Frequently attributive…
   27. prime lens 1959–
       A lens with a fixed focal length; cf. zoom lens, n.
   28. teleconverter 1959–
       A lens attachment which enables a camera to take detailed photographs of distant objects by increasing its effective focal length; cf. telephoto, n.¹…
   29. macro lens 1961–
       A lens suitable for taking photographs unusually close to the subject.
   30. zoom 1969–
       Cinematography and Photography. A zoom lens.
   31. fish-eye 1971–
       Photography and Optics. A convex camera lens with a very wide field of view that produces imagery with pronounced barrel distortion. Cf. sense B.2.
   32. macro 1971–
       = macro lens, n.¹
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zoom lens typically occurs about 0.2 times per million words in modern written English.

zoom lens is in frequency band 4, which contains words occurring between 0.1 and 1 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 zoom lens, n., 1930–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1930 | 0.0048
1940 | 0.025
1950 | 0.07
1960 | 0.12
1970 | 0.16
1980 | 0.21
1990 | 0.25
2000 | 0.26
2010 | 0.26

### Frequency of zoom lens, 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 | 0.29
2018 | 0.29
2019 | 0.29
2020 | 0.29
2021 | 0.28
2022 | 0.25
2023 | 0.24
2024 | 0.22

Originally published as part of the entry for zoom, n.

zoom, n. was revised in June 2017.