zooming, n.

zooming
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zooming_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zoomingnoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zooming mean?

There are three meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun zooming. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

zooming has developed meanings and uses in subjects including

aviation (1910s) film (1930s) optics (1930s) photography (1930s)

### How common is the noun zooming?

About 0.02occurrences per million words in modern written English

1910 | 0.0044
1920 | 0.0048
1930 | 0.005
1940 | 0.0057
1950 | 0.0073
1960 | 0.011
1970 | 0.016
1980 | 0.021
1990 | 0.023
2000 | 0.027
2010 | 0.031

### How is the noun zooming pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzuːmɪŋ/
ZOO-ming

#### U.S. English

/ˈzumɪŋ/
ZOO-ming

### Where does the noun zooming come from?

Earliest known use

1890s

The earliest known use of the noun zooming is in the 1890s.

OED's earliest evidence for zooming is from 1892, in the writing of ‘Q’, writer and anthologist.

zooming is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: zoom v.1, ‑ing suffix1.

### Nearby entries

1. zooman, n. 1871–
2. zoomancy, n. 1888–
3. zoomania, n. 1807–
4. zoomantist, n. 1861
5. Zoomar, n. 1946–
6. zoomechanical, adj. 1897
7. zoomechanics, n. 1888–1903
8. zoomelanin, n. 1858–
9. zoometric, adj. 1892–
10. zoometry, n. 1878–
11. zooming, n.1892–
12. zooming, adj. 1904–
13. zoom lens, n. 1932–
14. zoomorph, n. 1883–
15. zoomorphic, adj. 1849–
16. zoomorphism, n. 1822–
17. zoomorphize, v. 1940–
18. zoomorphizing, n. 1895–
19. zoomorphosed, adj. 1955–
20. zoom shot, n. 1930–
21. zoomy, adj. 1931–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by derivation.
< zoom v.1 + ‑ing suffix1.

## Meaning & use

1. 1.
   1892–
   The action or an instance of making a buzzing, humming, or droning sound, esp. as a result of moving at speed; the action or an instance of moving with, or as if with, such a sound.
   1. 1892

      > Amid..the scraping and zooming of the instruments, string and reed.

      ‘Q’, I saw Three Ships i
   2. 1921

      > The drone of his father's voice came to him where he knelt, losing itself in the zooming of the bee.

      S. Desmond, Gods i. 3
   3. 1945

      > The whole night was hideous with roarings and zoomings of planes landing and taking off.

      D. Friend, Diary 7 February (2003) vol. II. 207
   4. 1981

      > We can hardly wait for..the zooming of the Roman candles that suddenly make the sky ablaze.

      Kenosha (Wisconsin) News 1 July 10/1
   5. 2003

      > The zooming of cars can be heard throughout the city.

      New York Times (Nexis) 25 May v. 12/1
2. 2.
   1917–
   Aeronautics. The action of making a steep climb while flying at high speed. Cf. zoom v.1 2.
   1. 1917

      > ‘Zooming’ is..frequently the only means of avoiding an obstacle when flying low.

      Daily Mail 19 July 4/5
   2. 1971

      > Sudden halts, followed by more or less prolonged zooming, dives, loops.

      Drama Review vol. 15 129
   3. 1999

      > If one neglects the dissipative effect of drag, zooming merely trades kinetic energy for potential energy.

      J. T. Lowry, Performance Light Aircraft ix. 300
   aviation
   1. zoom 1917–
      Aeronautics. A steep climb by an aircraft flying at high speed. Frequently attributive.
   2. zooming 1917–
      Aeronautics. The action of making a steep climb while flying at high speed. Cf. zoom, v.¹ 2.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
3. 3.
   1934–
   Cinematography and Photography. The action of changing smoothly from a long shot with a lens, camera, etc., to a close-up or vice versa; the action of increasing or decreasing magnification of an image smoothly and quickly; cf. zoom v.1 3, 4. Frequently with in, out. Often attributive.
   1. 1934

      > By reason of the fact that our invention provides for universal focus, it is possible to have the feature of varying the size of the subject or object in the picture, i. e., what is known in the moving picture art as ‘zooming’.

      U.S. Patent 1,955,850 6/1
   2. 1961

      > The zoom angle can be adjusted anywhere in the zooming range.

      G. Millerson, Technique of Television Production iii. 34 (caption)
   3. 1974

      > Zooming in serves to pinpoint features of particular interest, while zooming out can establish the context of what may appear to be an isolated object.

      Hist. Teacher vol. 7 544
   4. 1989

      > Tasco 7–15×35 binoculars. Featuring zooming lever for smooth action.

      Grattan Direct Catalogue Spring–Summer 898/1
   5. 2005

      > Zooming in reveals superb detail, which you'd expect from a camera with this many image sensors.

      Digital Photographer No. 31. 105/1
   6. 2015

      > The Digital Crown, a device for zooming that compensated for the difficulty of pinching or spreading fingers on a tiny screen, was ordered up by the studio.

      New Yorker 23 February 135/3
   film optics photography
   1. zooming 1934–
      Cinematography and Photography. The action of changing smoothly from a long shot with a lens, camera, etc., to a close-up or vice versa; the…
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. panning 1917–
      Originally Film. The action or technique of sweeping a camera round in order to give a panoramic effect or to keep a moving subject in view. Cf. pan…
   2. pan 1922–
      Originally Film. The action or technique of panning a camera; a film sequence obtained in this way; a panning shot.
   3. panoraming 1927–
      = panning, n.² 1.
   4. camera movement 1929–
      a. Film (an instance of using) any of various techniques, such as zooming, panning, or tracking, which involve moving the camera or lens during a…
   5. zooming 1934–
      Cinematography and Photography. The action of changing smoothly from a long shot with a lens, camera, etc., to a close-up or vice versa; the…
   6. tilting 1938–
      Television and Cinematography. Movement of a camera in a vertical plane.
   7. tilt 1959–
      Television and Cinematography. (See quot. 1959.)
   8. whip-pan 1960–
      A panning movement fast enough to give a blurred picture; also as v. intransitive.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. flash-lighting 1959–
      The action of flashlight, v.
   2. shutter priority 1974–
      Used attributively and absol. to designate automatic working in which the user sets the shutter speed and leaves the appropriate aperture to be set…
   3. snap-shooting 1979–
      The practice of taking snapshots (see snapshot, n. 1 and 2).
   4. zooming 2005–
      Cinematography and Photography. The action of changing smoothly from a long shot with a lens, camera, etc., to a close-up or vice versa; the…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzuːmɪŋ/
ZOO-ming

### U.S. English

/ˈzumɪŋ/
ZOO-ming

####

##### 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

zooming typically occurs about 0.02 times per million words in modern written English.

zooming 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 zooming, n., 1910–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1910 | 0.0044
1920 | 0.0048
1930 | 0.005
1940 | 0.0057
1950 | 0.0073
1960 | 0.011
1970 | 0.016
1980 | 0.021
1990 | 0.023
2000 | 0.027
2010 | 0.031

### Frequency of zooming, 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 | 0.028
2018 | 0.03
2019 | 0.03
2020 | 0.03
2021 | 0.028
2022 | 0.027
2023 | 0.025
2024 | 0.023

Originally published as part of the entry for zoom, v.¹

zooming, n. was revised in June 2017.

zooming, n. was last modified in July 2023.