zygostat, n.

zygostat
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zygostat_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1921; not fully revised

# † zygostatnoun

## Earlier version

- zygostat in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zygostat mean?

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

This word is now obsolete. It is only recorded in the early 1600s.

#### Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

### Where does the noun zygostat come from?

Earliest known use

early 1600s

The only known use of the noun zygostat is in the early 1600s.

OED's only evidence for zygostat is from 1623, in the writing of Henry Cockeram, lexicographer.

zygostat is a borrowing from Latin.

Etymons: Latin zygostatēs.

### Nearby entries

1. zygosis, n. 1880–
2. zygosity, n. 1952–
3. zygosome, n. 1905–
4. zygosperm, n. 1880–
5. zygosphenal, adj. 1854–
6. zygosphene, n. 1854–
7. zygosphere, n. 1880–
8. zygospondyline, adj. 1892–
9. zygospore, n. 1864–
10. zygosporic, adj. 1906–
11. zygostat, n.1623
12. zygostatical, adj. 1656
13. zygostyle, n. 1881–
14. zygote, n. 1891–
15. zygotene, n. 1911–
16. zygotic, adj. 1909–
17. -zygotic, comb. form
18. zygotically, adv. 1915–
19. zygotoblast, n. 1899–
20. zygotoid, n. 1891–
21. zygotomere, n. 1899–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Latin.
Etymon: Latin zygostatēs.
< late Latin zygostatēs, < Greek ζυγοστάτης, < ζυγόν yoke, beam of a balance, etc. + ἱστάναι to set, place.

## Meaning & use

Obsolete. rare. Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.

1. 1623
   (See quots.)
   1. 1623

      > Zygost [at] e, one that is appointed to see the weights, a Clarke of the market.

      H. Cockeram, English Dictionarie
   2. [1654

      > Such a Zygostata or Ballance, wherewith Jewellers are to weigh Pearles and Diamonds.

      W. Charleton, Physiologia Epicuro-Gassendo-Charltoniana 403]

## Compounds & derived words

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1. zygostatical, adj. 1656

zygostat, n. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.

zygostat, n. was last modified in July 2023.