zoot-suiter, n.

zoot-suiter
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoot-suiter_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zoot-suiternoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zoot-suiter mean?

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

### How common is the noun zoot-suiter?

About 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1940 | 0.015
1950 | 0.016
1960 | 0.015
1970 | 0.015
1980 | 0.014
1990 | 0.014
2000 | 0.015
2010 | 0.014

### Where does the noun zoot-suiter come from?

Earliest known use

1940s

The earliest known use of the noun zoot-suiter is in the 1940s.

OED's earliest evidence for zoot-suiter is from 1942, in Indianapolis News.

### Nearby entries

1. zootokon, n. 1661
2. zootomic, adj. 1801–
3. zootomical, adj. 1799–
4. zootomically, adv. 1849–
5. zootomist, n. 1663–
6. zootomy, n. 1663–
7. zootoxin, n. 1906–
8. zootrophy, n. 1877–
9. zoot suit, n. 1942–
10. zoot-suited, adj. 1942–
11. zoot-suiter, n.1942–
12. zooty, adj. 1942–
13. zootype, n. 1883–
14. zootypic, adj. 1853–
15. zoowoman, n. 1930–
16. zooxanthella, n. 1882–
17. zooxanthellate, adj. & n. 1981–
18. zooxanthin, n. 1868–
19. zoozygosphere, n. 1880–
20. zope, n. 1880–
21. zophoric, adj. 1728–

## Meaning & use

1. 1942–
   A person who wears a zoot suit; spec. a member of a group or gang of young men characterized by wearing zoot suits.
   Stressed as ˈzoot-suiter.
   1. 1942

      > When they play this at the Trianon, and the ‘zoot’ suiters start swinging—well, brothers, it's like Fourth of July in a zoo with the lion and the tiger as joint masters of ceremonies.

      Indianapolis News 5 February 9/2
   2. 1952

      > A group of zoot-suiters greeted me in passing. ‘Hey, now, daddy-o,’ they called.

      R. Ellison, Invisible Man xxiii. 366
   3. 1972

      > It was almost twenty years [ago]... It was real bad then. We had B-girls and zoot-suiters and lots of crooks.

      J. Wambaugh, Blue Knight (1973) i. 18
   4. 2002

      > Harvey Keitel, jiving like the last of the zoot-suiters.

      Vanity Fair April 218/1
   costume
   1. Sunday citizen 1598–
      A citizen dressed in Sunday clothes; (in later use more generally) one engaging in the customary religious or leisure activities of a Sunday.
   2. longcoat 1603–55
      A person who wears, or is regarded as characteristically wearing, a long coat or long coats, as a young child, a fool, etc. Also attributive…
   3. lettice ruff a1625
      Probably: a person wearing a ruff with flattened curves resembling those of a lettuce leaf.
   4. silkworm a1625–
      One who wears a silken gown or dress. Used contemptuously. rare.
   5. copester 1637
      A wearer of a cope, i.e. a monk.
   6. Curtmantle a1638
      A person who wears a short cloak. Obsolete.
   7. short-coat 1649–
      A person wearing a short coat. Also attributive in short-coat vicarage n. Obsolete (meaning obscure).
   8. Scotch-sleeve?1706
      (Probably) a person wearing sleeves of Scotch cloth; cf. quot. 1705 at Scotch cloth, n.
   9. Evite 1713–
      A name humorously applied to a woman wearing little clothing.
   10. uniform 1786–
       A person wearing a uniform. rare.
   11. nude 1810
       A woman who wears very low-necked dresses. Obsolete. rare.
   12. blue-stockinged 1818–
       With the. Blue-stockinged people collectively. Also figurative. Now rare.
   13. waistcoateer 1825–
       A person wearing a waistcoat of a specified fashion.
   14. padder 1828–
       A person who or thing which pads (in various senses of pad, v.²).
   15. stook of duds 1834–
       (See quot. 1904).
   16. bloomer 1851–
       A woman who wears bloomer costume.
   17. sleeve 1851–
       In University use: A gown having sleeves, or one who wears such a gown.
   18. cope-man 1853–
       A person wearing a cope.
   19. shirt 1860–
       figurative and in extended use. A person who wears a shirt of a particular colour as an emblem or uniform of a political (esp. nationalist or…
   20. shirtwaister 1900
       A person who wears a shirtwaist (shirtwaist, n. 1). Obsolete. rare.
   21. DJ 1926–
       A dinner jacket.
   22. rat-catcher 1928–
       colloquial. A person wearing such an item or items. rare.
   23. sweater girl 1940–
       A girl, esp. a model or actress, who wears tight-fitting sweaters; originally a name applied to the American actress Lana Turner (1921–95) who wore…
   24. zoot-suiter 1942–
       A person who wears a zoot suit; spec. a member of a group or gang of young men characterized by wearing zoot suits.
   25. Edwardian 1954–
       A person wearing clothes of Edwardian style; a ‘Teddy boy’.
   26. penguin 1967–
       humorous or derogatory. A man wearing black-and-white evening dress, esp. one having a stiff or pompous demeanour. Cf. penguin suit, n. (a).
   27. overcoat 1969–
       A person who (habitually) wears an overcoat; one who is typified by this.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zoot-suiter typically occurs about 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zoot-suiter is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 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 zoot-suiter, n., 1940–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1940 | 0.015
1950 | 0.016
1960 | 0.015
1970 | 0.015
1980 | 0.014
1990 | 0.014
2000 | 0.015
2010 | 0.014

Originally published as part of the entry for zoot suit, n.

zoot suit, n. was revised in June 2017.