zoom, v.¹

zoom
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoom_v1%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zoomverb1

## Earlier version

- zoom, v. in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the verb zoom mean?

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

zoom has developed meanings and uses in subjects including

aviation (1910s) economics and commerce (1920s) film (1940s) optics (1940s) photography (1940s) computing (1960s)

### How common is the verb zoom?

About 1occurrence per million words in modern written English

1880 | 0.001
1890 | 0.0013
1900 | 0.013
1910 | 0.035
1920 | 0.1
1930 | 0.25
1940 | 0.34
1950 | 0.41
1960 | 0.45
1970 | 0.63
1980 | 0.99
1990 | 1.5
2000 | 2.0
2010 | 2.2

### How is the verb zoom pronounced?

#### British English

/zuːm/
zoom

#### U.S. English

/zum/
zoom

### Where does the verb zoom come from?

Earliest known use

1880s

The earliest known use of the verb zoom is in the 1880s.

OED's earliest evidence for zoom is from 1886, in Century Magazine.

It is also recorded as an exclamation from the 1850s.

zoom is an imitative or expressive formation.

### Nearby entries

1. zoological, adj. & n. 1686–
2. zoological garden, n. 1827–
3. zoologically, adv. 1799–
4. zoologico-, comb. form
5. zoologico-archaeologist, n. 1864
6. zoologist, n. 1663–
7. zoologize, v. 1830–
8. zoologizing, n. 1815–
9. zoology, n. 1663–
10. zoom, n. 1917–
11. zoom, v.¹1886–
12. Zoom, v.² 2014–
13. zoom, int. 1856–
14. zoomable, adj. 1972–
15. zoomagnetism, n. 1824–
16. zooman, n. 1871–
17. zoomancy, n. 1888–
18. zoomania, n. 1807–
19. zoomantist, n. 1861
20. Zoomar, n. 1946–
21. zoomechanical, adj. 1897

## Etymology

### Summary

An imitative or expressive formation.
Imitative.

Compare earlier zoom int., and also earlier sum v.2, which shows a similar imitative formation…
Imitative.

Compare earlier zoom int., and also earlier sum v.2, which shows a similar imitative formation.

### Notes

With sense 3 compare earlier zoom n. 3.

## Meaning & use

1. 1.
   1886–
   intransitive. To move or travel very quickly, esp. making a continuous humming, buzzing, or droning sound; to make such a sound while moving quickly. Also occasionally transitive: to cause to move in this way; to propel quickly. Frequently with adverbs and prepositions indicating the direction of travel, as along, away, into, off, etc.
   1. 1886

      > The crystal went zooming into the fence-corner.

      Century Magazine January 426/1
   2. 1905

      > A couple of humble-bees zoomed against the window pane.

      ‘Q’, Shining Ferry xiv
   3. 1924

      > Trams zoom along and buses rattle past.

      British Weekly 18 December 270/1
   4. 1930

      > Saws humming. Lathes turning. Band Saws zooming. Joiners buzzing.

      Popular Mechanics December 145/2
   5. 1946

      > How would it be..to zoom off immediately, without waiting to pack.

      P. G. Wodehouse, Joy in Morning xxix. 280
   6. 1960

      > Hewitt soon zoomed away on the right.

      T. McLean, Kings of Rugby (new edition) 118
   7. 1976

      > Every night..a speedboat zooms into the Jones Beach Marine Theater.

      National Observer (U.S.) 14 August 16/1
   8. 1984

      > Jim Tait zoomed his skateboard around the Orange locker room.

      Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York) 19 September c3/1
   9. 2010

      > What about the eerie footage of the accelerator pedal pressing down on its own and the Audi suddenly zooming out of control?

      C. Seife, Proofiness iii. 77
   1. hurr 1398–
      intransitive. To make or utter a dull sound of vibration or trilling; to buzz as an insect; to snarl as a dog; to pronounce a trilled r.
   2. hoss 1530
      intransitive. To buzz.
   3. breeze 1688
      intransitive. To buzz as a breeze or gadfly.
   4. bombilate 1854–
      intransitive. To hum or buzz; to make a low buzzing or droning sound; to move with or as if with such a sound. Also figurative: to be animated by or…
   5. zizz 1883–
      intransitive. To make a whizzing or buzzing sound; to move with such a sound (usually with adverb or prepositional phrase expressing direction).
   6. zoom 1886–
      intransitive. To move or travel very quickly, esp. making a continuous humming, buzzing, or droning sound; to make such a sound while moving…
   7. zither 1889–
      intransitive. To make a sound like that of a zither; to make a sibilant humming sound; to buzz lightly. Also: to move while making such a sound.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. thunder c1374–
      In extended use. intransitive. To make a loud, resounding noise like thunder; to roar. Also (frequently with adverb or prepositional phrase…
   2. hurtle 1509–
      To dash, rush, hurry; esp. with noise.
   3. rattle 1555–
      Denoting motion or travel, with adverb or prepositional construction indicating direction. intransitive. To move (usually rapidly) with a…
   4. skirr 1567–
      To move, run, fly, sail, etc., rapidly or with great impetus. Sometimes implying a whirring sound accompanying the movement. Usually const. with…
   5. whizz 1591–
      To move swiftly with or as with such a sound.
   6. brustle 1638
      To go hastily with a rustling noise. Cf. bustle, v.¹ II.2a.
   7. clatter 1810–
      To move rapidly with such a noise, to rattle along, down, over, etc.
   8. whoosh 1856–
      intransitive. To utter or emit a dull soft sibilant sound, like that of something rushing through the air; to move rapidly with a rushing sound.
   9. fizz 1864–
      To move with a fizzing sound.
   10. zoon 1880–
       intransitive. To make a humming, buzzing, or droning sound; to move with, or as if with, such a sound; to move quickly. Also occasionally transitive…
   11. zing 1899–
       intransitive. Esp. of a bullet or other object passing rapidly through the air: to make a sharp, high-pitched ringing or twanging sound. Hence…
   12. skoosh 1904–
       intransitive. To move rapidly, esp. (of a vehicle) with a swishing sound; to depart quickly. Also in imperative (Children's slang): ‘go away!’…
   13. zoom 1924–
       intransitive. To move or travel very quickly, esp. making a continuous humming, buzzing, or droning sound; to make such a sound while moving…
   14. scream 1943–
       Of an inanimate thing: To make a noise like a scream; spec. to travel swiftly with a screaming noise; also hyperbolically and transferred, of a…
   View in Historical Thesaurus
2. 2.
   Aeronautics.
   1. 2.a.
      1917–
      intransitive. Of an aircraft or its pilot: to make a steep climb while flying at high speed (cf. zoom n. 1). Also in extended use.
      Passing into sense 1.
      1. 1917

         > The wind whistled about their ears, and, next second, they were ‘zumming’ up, climbing at an angle of quite 30 degrees.

         Saturday Journal (Adelaide) 7 April 6/5
      2. 1920

         > The bird checked, swerved and dived and zoomed back into level flight again.

         Blackwood's Magazine July 71/2
      3. 1934

         > They would dive and zoom..but they would never dogfight Camels.

         V. M. Yeates, Winged Victory vi. 51
      4. 1962

         > At 28,000 feet, diving at 900 mph..we suddenly pulled through and started to zoom up again..This manœuvre converted some of our speed into zoom energy.

         S. Carpenter in J. Glenn et al., Into Orbit 75
      5. 1980

         > He zoomed up and over to gain height.

         J. Ditton, Copley's Hunch ii. i. 115
      6. 1995

         > The country's bold pilots were not the least bit shy about zooming into the skies, forever willing and able to dogfight every enemy plane out of them.

         F. G. Vogel, World War I Songs I. viii. 130/1
      aviation
      1. hoick a1918–
         To force (an aeroplane) to climb steeply to a higher level. Also intransitive, to jerk oneself out of, etc.
      2. zoom 1917–
         Aeronautics. intransitive. Of an aircraft or its pilot: to make a steep climb while flying at high speed (cf. zoom, n. 1). Also in extended use.
      View in Historical Thesaurus
   2. 2.b.
      1918–
      transitive. To cause (an aircraft) to make a steep climb while flying at high speed; (also) to fly over (something on the ground) in this manner.
      1. 1918

         > Watch me zoom those girls ahead on the beach, go on, wave to them!

         Flight 13 June 656/2
      2. 1918

         > I ‘gave 'er all the gun’ and ‘zoomed’ the château—that is, I almost went up the front of the place.

         Independent 16 November 208/2
      3. 1928

         > A machine should never be ‘zoomed’ or made to jump into the air by a too-rapid movement of the elevator flaps.

         V. W. Pagé, Modern Aircraft 521
      4. 1978

         > The aircraft should be zoomed (approximately 20 degrees nose up attitude).

         T-38 Talon 36/2
      aviation
      1. hoick a1918–
         To force (an aeroplane) to climb steeply to a higher level. Also intransitive, to jerk oneself out of, etc.
      2. zoom 1918–
         Aeronautics. transitive. To cause (an aircraft) to make a steep climb while flying at high speed; (also) to fly over (something on the ground) in…
      View in Historical Thesaurus
   3. 2.c.
      1928–
      intransitive. figurative. Of prices, costs, statistics, etc.: to rise sharply; to soar, to rocket.
      1. 1928

         > Common stock of Radio Corporation zooming up.

         Hutchinson (Kansas) News 30 March 1/3
      2. 1970

         > They must double labour and work overtime. Costs zoom.

         Daily Telegraph 6 February (Colour Supplement) 17/3
      3. 1976

         > By March 1978..the dropout total would zoom to 498,300—50 times the total as of March 1972.

         National Observer (U.S.) 17 July 3/1
      4. 1981

         > He did not think that the Prime Minister had ever said the economy was going to zoom.

         Times 12 September 2/1
      5. 2014

         > A market where the house prices are ‘zooming out of reach’.

         Daily Telegraph 5 September 4/4
      economics and commerce aviation
      1. start a1661–1767
         intransitive. Of a commodity: to rise suddenly in price. Obsolete.
      2. zoom 1928–
         Aeronautics. intransitive. figurative. Of prices, costs, statistics, etc.: to rise sharply; to soar, to rocket.
      3. soar 1929–
         Of an amount, price, etc.: to rise or increase rapidly. Hence, of a commodity: to increase rapidly in price.
      4. rocket 1931–
         intransitive. To increase suddenly and very rapidly.
      5. to take off 1935–
         intransitive. Esp. of prices or costs: to rise steeply or suddenly.
      6. to go through the roof 1958–
         to go through the roof: to become very angry. Cf. to hit the roof at phrases P.9.
      7. shoot 1968–
         To increase rapidly in growth (sometimes, with inclusion of sense I.6, to sprout and grow rapidly); to advance to maturity. Now only with up or…
      View in Historical Thesaurus
3. 3.
   Cinematography and Photography.
   1. 3.a.
      1944–
      intransitive. Of a camera, lens, etc.: to change smoothly from a long shot of a subject to a close-up, or vice versa, without losing focus; to change the magnification of a shot in this way. Frequently with in (on): to bring a subject into close-up (also figurative). Also with out: to change to a long shot of a subject, widening the field of view.
      With reference to digital photography overlapping with sense 4.
      1. 1944

         > The camera suddenly zooms into the first scene.

         Popular Photography January 64
      2. 1959

         > The scene opens with a full screen live-action back-projection shot which zooms to a miniature.

         J. Halas & R. Manvell, Technique of Film Animation xix. 237
      3. 1962

         > The lens is capable of ‘zooming-in’ on a set target up to a mile distant.

         Daily Telegraph 8 June 23/7
      4. 1968

         > The camera zoomed in close, following her, closing-up, till the face of the jouncing baby..could be seen clearly.

         S. Yurick, Bag x. 464
      5. 1970

         > Needle-sharp f1.8 lens—zooms from telephoto to wide angle.

         Amateur Photographer 11 March 13 (advertisement)
      6. 1979

         > The cameras..zooming in and out, whip-panning, busying about the place looking for new angles.

         Observer 26 August 20/8
      7. 1989

         > You went away..smiling with the assurance that you had zoomed in on details people were too preoccupied, or too nervous, to notice.

         A. Beattie, Picturing Will i. ix. 84
      8. 2004

         > A photographer..will use a short-focal-length wide-angle, or ‘fisheye’, lens to zoom out, revealing the fans throughout the stadium.

         Scientific American (U.K. edition) December 54/3
      9. 2011

         > They would use the cameras to zoom in on anyone they fancied taking a closer look at.

         Independent 14 September (Viewspaper section) 3/1
      film optics photography
      1. zoom 1944–
         Cinematography and Photography. intransitive. Of a camera, lens, etc.: to change smoothly from a long shot of a subject to a close-up, or vice…
      2. to zero in 1957–
         intransitive. Of a camera, photographer, etc.: to bring a subject into close-up; to zoom in on.
      View in Historical Thesaurus
      1. zoom 1944–
         Cinematography and Photography. intransitive. Of a camera, lens, etc.: to change smoothly from a long shot of a subject to a close-up, or vice…
      View in Historical Thesaurus
      1. panoram 1914–
         intransitive. = pan, v.⁴ 1b. Also figurative.
      2. pan 1928–
         Originally Film. intransitive. Of a camera: to swing, usually horizontally, esp. to give a panoramic view or to keep a moving subject in view…
      3. truck 1929–
         Cinematography. = track, v.¹ I.3e.
      4. dolly 1939–
         intransitive (colloquial) To move a film- or television-camera in or up towards the subject, or out away from it. Cf. dolly, n.¹ 4h. Also figurative.
      5. zoom 1944–
         Cinematography and Photography. intransitive. Of a camera, lens, etc.: to change smoothly from a long shot of a subject to a close-up, or vice…
      6. crane 1957–
         Of a camera mounted upon a crane: to alter range or direction.
      7. track 1959–
         Of a film or television camera, or its operator: to move (esp. back or in) in relation to the subject being filmed.
      8. whip-pan 1960–
         A panning movement fast enough to give a blurred picture; also as v. intransitive.
      View in Historical Thesaurus
   2. 3.b.
      1944–
      transitive. To cause (a camera, lens, etc.) to change the magnification of a shot in this way; to cause to zoom in or out.
      1. 1944

         > The camera is zoomed into the first scene.

         Popular Photography January 64
      2. 1952

         > The construction makes it possible for the operator to ‘zoom’ the lenses after the ball or player.

         Applied Electronics Ann. 1951 57/1
      3. 1979

         > Have you tried focusing and zooming a lens that operates in the opposite direction to others in your gadget bag?

         SLR Camera March 5/3
      4. 2002

         > Why zoom the camera in on Paula Zahn's lips and advertise her as sexy?

         New York Times (National edition) 13 March a27/2
      film optics photography
      1. zoom 1944–
         Cinematography and Photography. transitive. To cause (a camera, lens, etc.) to change the magnification of a shot in this way; to cause to zoom in…
      View in Historical Thesaurus
      1. zoom 1944–
         Cinematography and Photography. transitive. To cause (a camera, lens, etc.) to change the magnification of a shot in this way; to cause to zoom in…
      View in Historical Thesaurus
      1. tilt 1915–
         Television and Cinematography. To move (a camera) in a vertical plane.
      2. pan 1930–
         Originally Film. transitive. To swing (a video or film camera), usually in a horizontal plane, esp. to give a panoramic effect or to keep a moving…
      3. zoom 1944–
         Cinematography and Photography. transitive. To cause (a camera, lens, etc.) to change the magnification of a shot in this way; to cause to zoom in…
      View in Historical Thesaurus
4. 4.
   1965–
   intransitive. Computing. To enlarge or decrease the size of (part of) an electronic image, document, etc., displayed on a screen. Frequently with in (on), out (cf. sense 3a).
   1. 1965

      > He can examine this electronic ‘drawing’ in detail by zooming in on selected portions of it.

      Western Machinery & Steel World October 29/2
   2. 1984

      > The program redraws the recording so that the portion selected fills the screen. One can zoom again, and again, and again.

      Tekalike, a Tektronix Terminal Emulator in fa.info-mac 16 November (Usenet newsgroup, accessed 24 Nov. 2016)
   3. 2005

      > Click to select the tool, then click on the image to zoom in.

      H. Bradley et al., Creative Scrapbooking with your Computer iv. 108/2
   computing

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zuːm/
zoom

### U.S. English

/zum/
zoom

####

##### 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

## Forms

### Variant forms

1. 1800s–
   zoom
2. 1900s
   zum

## Frequency

zoom typically occurs about once per million words in modern written English.

zoom is in frequency band 5, which contains words occurring between 1 and 10 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, v.¹, 1880–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1880 | 0.001
1890 | 0.0013
1900 | 0.013
1910 | 0.035
1920 | 0.1
1930 | 0.25
1940 | 0.34
1950 | 0.41
1960 | 0.45
1970 | 0.63
1980 | 0.99
1990 | 1.5
2000 | 2.0
2010 | 2.2

### Frequency of zoom, v.¹, 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 | 3.1
2018 | 3.4
2019 | 4.4
2020 | 4.9
2021 | 4.9
2022 | 4.3
2023 | 4.0
2024 | 3.9

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zooming, n. 1892–
   The action or an instance of making a buzzing…

1. zooming, adj. 1904–
   That zooms (in various senses of zoom, v.¹).

1. zoom, n. 1917–
   Cinematography and Photography. A camera shot…

1. zoomable, adj. 1972–
   Of a camera, lens, etc.: having an adjustable…

zoom, v.¹ was revised in June 2017.

zoom, v.¹ was last modified in December 2023.