| 释义 |
▪ I. zero, n.|ˈzɪərəʊ|
Pl. zeroes |-əʊz|.
[ad. F. zéro (1515 in Hatz.-Darm.) or its source It. zero, for *zefiro, ad. Arab. çifr cipher n.]
1. a. The arithmetical figure 0 which denotes ‘nought’: = cipher n. 1.
1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies vi. ii. 435 They accompted their weekes by thirteene dayes, marking the dayes with a Zero or cipher. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey). Zero, a Word sometimes us'd especially among the French, for a Cipher or Nought (0). 1799Tilloch's Philos. Mag, II. 413 Every letter..marked with a figure followed by a zero. 1854Orr's Circ. Sci., Math. Sci. 16 Sometimes the divisor ends with zeros or noughts. 1857Househ. Words 8 Aug. 143/2 A five, with a zero to the right, and a three to the left. 1878Gurney Crystallogr. 15 If we have two zeros in the symbol. 1940E. T. Bell Devel. Math. iii. 48 The introduction of zero as a symbol denoting the absence of units or of certain powers of ten..has been rated as one of the greatest practical inventions of all time. 1959Koestler Sleepwalkers ii. iii. 105 The Indian system of numerals based on the symbol zero. 1969P. B. Jordain Condensed Computer Encycl. 572 Users can be confused and misled by leading zeros: they may hide the true size of the numeral and make it harder to grasp at a glance.
b. The compartment numbered 0 on a roulette table.
1859Lever Dav. Dunn xlvi, I have been sketching out a little plan of a martingale for the roulette-table. There's only one zero at Homburg, and we can try it there as we go up. 1889J.-S. Bond Roulette 29 If for 150 years Roulette has held its own against all comers, it is zero that has done it. 1911tr. Silberer's Roulette 50 When the zéro comes out, the Bank takes the half of all stakes on the chances simples and the whole of all stakes upon the chances multiples (excepting, of course, stakes laid upon zéro, or on a combination including zéro, which alone it pays).
2. The point or line marked 0 on a graduated scale, from which the reckoning begins: esp. in a thermometer or other measuring instrument.
1795Phil. Trans. LXXXV. 446 When the instrument is adjusted, and the index belonging to the micrometer-screw stands at the zero on its circle. 1826Art of Brewing (Libr. Usef. Knowl. 1829) 19/2 If the saccharometer be made so as to sink to a certain point marked zero (a cypher) in distilled water. 1826Henry Elem. Chem. II. 639 The Centigrade thermometer places the zero at the freezing point. 1840Lardner Geom. 208 The French adopt as their zero of longitude the meridian which passes through the Observatory at Paris. 1890W. F. Stanley Surv. & Lev. Instr. 439 These rollers are fixed in such a manner as to turn in a circumference concentric with the zero of the alidade.
3. The temperature corresponding to the zero of a thermometer; that degree of heat (or cold) which is reckoned as 0°: i.e. in the Centigrade and Réaumur's scales, the freezing-point of water; in Fahrenheit's scale (traditionally the usual one in Eng. use), 32° below this, or ‘thirty-two degrees of frost’.
absolute zero, the lowest temperature possible in the nature of things, at which the molecular motion which constitutes heat would cease; the zero of absolute temperature, reckoned as -273° C.
1800tr. Lagrange's Chem. I. 78 That the melting of ice produces cold, is proved by the custom which confectioners have of melting certain salts with ice to produce a cold below zero. 1809Med. Jrnl. XXI. 525 On the 23d of January, at sunrise, the thermometer was 10 deg., on the 26th 13 deg. below Zero; the coldest weather ever recorded in this town. 1823Byron Juan x. xxxiii, Thermometers sunk down to..zero. 1848Watts tr. Gmelin's Handbk. Chem. I. 303 Clement and Desormes place the absolute zero at -266·6° C. (-447·9° Fah.). 1905Times 24 Jan. 4/6 In a terrible surf, with the glass near zero, they finally brought the remnant of the crew off safely.
4. a. In abstract sense: Nought or nothing reckoned as a number denoted by the figure 0, and constituting the starting-point of the series of natural numbers; the total absence of quantity considered as a quantity (in Alg. and Higher Math. as intermediate between positive and negative quantities); hence as expressing the amount of something = ‘none at all’.
1823Byron Juan ix. ii, Though your years as man tend fast to zero. 1831Phil. Trans. CXXI. 113 This sum is equal to zero in all positions of the line d s round the point (x, y, z). 1831Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. ix, Unless my Algebra deceive me, Unity itself divided by Zero will give Infinity. 1872Lowell Dante Pr. Wks. 1890 IV. 155 Dante's direct acquaintance with Plato may be reckoned at zero. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 248 In a certain patient, I have observed the intercranial tension to be slightly below zero while he was standing upright.
b. In the theory of functions, A value of a variable for which a function vanishes.
1893A. R. Forsyth Functions 62 The number of distinct zeros in the limited area is finite. 1902E. T. Whittaker Mod. Anal. 94 A polynomial of degree n has n zeros.
c. Linguistics. In grammar, the absence of an overt mark, written or spoken, as against its presence in corresponding positions elsewhere (e.g. cut pa. tense as against putted).
1891S. C. Vasu Ashṭádhyáyí of Pánini 56 In Sanskrit Grammar, this ‘lopa’ is considered as a substitute or âdes̱a, and as such this grammatical zero has all the rights and liabilities of the thing it replaces. 1914Bloomfield Introd. Study Lang. v. 154 If..we take into view..amo ‘I love’, amāvit ‘he loved’, amētur ‘he may be loved’, it is possible to call them all related by affixation, the kernel being am-... In this instance the group does not contain a word that equals the kernel, or, as we might say, has ‘affix zero’. 1933― Language xiii. 209 In sheep : sheep the plural-suffix is replaced by zero. 1946Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. LXVI. 98/1 Zero counts as an ending if it has the same function as an overt ending in another paradigm. 1957Eng. Lang. Teaching (British Council) Oct.–Dec. 11 If the pronoun is object, zero should be used if the subject is a personal pronoun. 1972R. Quirk et al. Gram. Contemporary Eng. xiii. 866 With time adjuncts, omission of the preposition is usual whether the pronoun is that or zero..: That is the time (that) he arrives (at). 1979Amer. Speech LIV. 31 Fifteen items take zero as the plural suffix.
5. fig. (from 4). Something that counts as or amounts to nothing; a worthless thing or person, one of no account; a ‘cipher’, ‘nonentity’; a ‘nothing’ or ‘nobody’.
1813M. Edgeworth Patronage xxiv, The other gentlemen are zeros. 1858Carlyle Fredk. Gt. vi. ix. II. 126 Whatever the answer now be from England, I will have nothing to do with it..to me it shall be zero. 1861Macm. Mag. III. 322 A man who will not work..is as complete a zero in the labour supply as if he were dead. 1870H. Macmillan True Vine iii. (1872) 82 He is not surrounded with a vast zero, an all-absorbing negation.
6. fig. (from 2 and 3).
a. The lowest point or degree; vanishing-point; nothingness, nullity. Also, an absence or lack of anything; nothing. (Sometimes coinciding with b.)
1820Byron Juan iii. cx, Sure my invention must be down at zero. 1837Hood Desert-Born 64 Merely to look at such a sight my courage sinks to zero. 1867‘Mark Twain’ Jumping Frog, Curing a Cold, I got to coughing incessantly, and my voice fell below zero. 1883Proc. Inst. Mech. Engineers Jan. 74 We have again a zero of current. 1894Drummond Ascent of Man 176 Man began the Ascent of Civilization at zero. 1915J. Huneker Ivory, Apes & Peacocks iii. 35 We should soon reach a zero if we only registered the absence of ‘necessary’ traits in our poet. 1967Boston Globe 21 May (Confidential Chat) 8/3 True, there is a certain amount of ‘freedom’ in their use but the wearing of them adds up to absolutely zero! 1977C. McCarry Secret Lovers xii. 159 ‘What about the airlines, the hotel, car rentals.’ ‘Zero, I'd have used phony paper, wouldn't you?’
b. The initial point of a process or reckoning; the starting-point, the absolute beginning; spec. Mil., the time or the day when an attack or operation is due to begin.
† hour of zero, Mil. Obs. = zero hour (see 7 a).
1849H. Miller Footpr. Creator x. 193 The vegetation of the Silurian system, from its upper beds down till where we reach the zero of life. 1866J. Martineau Ess. I. 7 He..makes 1788 his zero of human history. 1916P. Gibbs Battles of Somme xxviii. 248 When the hour of ‘zero’ came for the attack. 1916King's R. Rifle Corps Chron. 1915 104 Zero, the time the gas and smoke was to start, was 5.50 a.m. 1918E. A. Mackintosh War, the Liberator iv. 124 We've got to be at Battalion Headquarters at 5, although I don't suppose zero'll be for a good time after that. 1924Kipling Debits & Credits (1926) 314 The men's teeth chatterin' behind their masks between rum-issue an' zero. 1942W. S. Churchill in Second World War (1950) IV. i. xiii. 225 It should be assumed..that zero [for an attack on Madagascar] should be about April 30. 1954W. Faulkner Fable 10 At zero, nobody left the trench except the officers and a few N.C.O.'s. 1983L. Macdonald Somme v. 41 The main body was ordered to Thiepval..timing their arrival for Zero plus two hours..to stride on to consolidate the third objective.
7. attrib.
a. in sense 2 (or 6 b), as zero-line, zero-mark, zero-plane, zero-point; zero-base, -based adjs., applied to a budget and to budgeting in which each item is costed anew, rather than in relation to its size or status in the previous budget; cf. ZBB s.v. Z 12 a; zero creep, spontaneous slow displacement of the zero-point on a graduated scale; zero-crossing, the crossing of the horizontal axis by a function as it passes through zero and changes sign; a point where this occurs; also attrib. with reference to the analysis of complex wave-forms through the study of such points; zero day Mil., the day on which an attack or operation is scheduled to begin; also transf.; zero hour, (a) Mil., the hour at which an attack or operation is timed to begin; also transf.; (b) the hour when something is at its lowest ebb (nonce-use); (c) the hour from which the time of day is measured; zero magnet, a magnet for adjusting the zero, e.g. of a galvanometer; zero mark, post, a mark or post from which distances along roads are measured; zero-point (point n.1 A. 22), spec. in Physics, used attrib. with reference to properties and phenomena in quantized systems at absolute zero; esp. zero-point energy (see quot. 1935).
1970P. A. Pyhrr in Harvard Business Rev. Nov.–Dec. 111 In this speech [Arthur F.] Burns identified the basic need for what we at Texas Instruments have come to call *zero-base budgeting... Burns was advocating that government agencies start from ground zero, as it were, with each year's budget and present their requests for appropriations in such a fashion that all funds can be allocated on the basis of cost/benefit or some similar kind of evaluative analysis. 1977Wisconsin State Jrnl. 1 Feb. 1 Zero-base budgeting was used by President Carter when he was governor of Georgia. He asked state agencies to justify their existence and the programs they administer from zero up, rather than merely bringing in requests for more programs, money and staff.
1976National Observer (U.S.) 27 Mar. 3/3 To curb inflation, he advocates a ‘*zero based’ Federal budget, in which each program must be justified every year. 1983Financial Times 10 Nov. 9/1 Sir Douglas Wass..proposed two specific changes... The first would be to introduce ‘zero-based budgetting’ to make spending departments consider their action if the money available to them were drastically cut.
1906Athenæum 19 May 612/2 A very ingenious bifilar galvanometer..warranted free from the tendency to *zero creep.
1950Jrnl. Acoustical Soc. Amer. XXII. 821/2 Vowel sounds were the first to become intelligible, presumably because for them the density of *zero crossings in the input to the time quantizer is lower than it is for consonants. 1969New Scientist 1 May 225/1 Equipment capable of analysing and recognizing speech..has achieved considerable success using the so-called zero crossing technique. 1982Electronics Today Internat. Oct. 78/2 Switching the zero-crossing point of the mains cycle eliminates the need for RFI suppression.
1929Papers Mich. Acad. Sci., Arts & Lett. X. 335/2 *Zero day, the day for an attack. 1938Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. XXVIII. 325 On zero-day (the day preceding the beginning of training with the aid of the electric shock) each rat was immersed six times in the tank. 1947L. Hastings Dragons are Extra iv. 80, I..fixed a zero-day three months ahead. 1978R. V. Jones Most Secret War xxxix. 350, 20th October had been fixed as Zero Day for rocket attacks on London to begin.
1917W. Beach Thomas With British on Somme ii. v, The coming of the *zero hour of 3.30 in the morning. 1930Daily Express 23 May 1/6 Psychologists have fixed 11 a.m. as the zero hour of the worker. 1939Wodehouse Uncle Fred in Springtime xviii. 269 Your duties will not begin till after dinner. Zero hour is at nine-thirty sharp. 1939Joyce Finnegans Wake 403 Methought..I heard at zero hour as 'twere the peal of vixen's laughter among midnight's chimes. 1946K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) vii. 98 Desperate over the nearness of zero hour for the punt service, he seized her by the hand and snatched her along. 1953A. Huxley Let. 2 Feb. (1969) 664 Incidentally, zero hour for tax-payments is approaching. 1978A. Price '44 Vintage viii. 86 He had..the..impression..that they had been travelling at breakneck speed,..as though the Americans were determined to deliver them on time for some impossible pre-arranged zero hour.
1915A. Keith Antiq. Man xxi. 341 The horizontal or *zero line, which crosses the hinder and lower angles of the right and left parietal bones.
1862Tyndall Heat i. (1863) 3 At the present moment the needle..points to the *zero mark on the graduated disc. 1908Times 2 Jan. 8/6 The iron tablet marking the position of Tyburn-gate..is virtually a milestone, marking, as it does, a spot from which the miles on the two great roads that join at Marble Arch are measured. It is perhaps the sole survivor of the zero marks of London.
1880Haughton Phys. Geog. ii. 51 The *zero plane is the surface of the ellipsoid similar to the sea surface.
1810T. Thomson Syst. Chem. (ed. 4) I. 565 A thermometer, the *zero point of which indicates absolute cold. 1826Mem. Astron. Soc. II. 469 Every star observed in the course of the sweep which can be identified with a star in any catalogue, and whose place is determined with certainty, is taken as a zero point. 1895Physical Rev. II. 326 The balls were placed horizontally in their neutral position, and the reading of the zero-point of the scale taken. 1935J. Dougall tr. Born's Atomic Physics 339 According to the classical theory, the state of least energy of an oscillator is that of zero energy. According to wave mechanics, however, the ground state has a finite energy E = ½hv0... This zero-point energy can be explained by Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. 1938R. W. Lawson tr. Hevesy & Paneth's Man. Radioactivity (ed. 2) xx. 194 If account be taken of zero-point energy, it is found that at low temperatures the lighter isotope must have the higher vapour pressure, whereas if there is no zero-point energy it will have the lesser vapour pressure. 1955H. B. G. Casimir in W. Pauli Niels Bohr 130 The interaction with the zero point vibrations of the crystal lattice leads to an interaction between electrons. 1969P. Anderson in Cockburn & Blackburn Student Power 263 When neither society nor man are anywhere put in question, culture stops. In England, it has gradually slowed towards zero point. 1970G. K. Woodgate Elem. Atomic Struct. iv. 67 A quantized radiation field has a zero-point energy equivalent to a mean-square electric field so that even in a vacuum there are fluctuations in this zero-point radiation field. Ibid., Zero-point fluctuations. 1973Sci. Amer. Jan. 91/1 In quantum physics the ground state is not a state of absolute rest or motionlessness but only a singular ‘zero point’ form of motion in which there are no quasiparticles.
1908Daily Chron. 9 Jan. 3/3 The *zero posts which formerly stood on the present site of the Marble Arch, and at Hyde-park-corner.
b. in sense 3, as zero night, zero temperature, zero weather.
1854Hawthorne Engl. Note-bks. (1870) I. 162 In the zero atmosphere of America. 1855Browning Old Pictures in Florence xxxiv, Feel truth at blood-heat and falsehood at zero rate. 1884E. P. Roe in Harper's Mag. Jan. 288/2, I can keep my..hens warm even in zero weather. 1899Edin. Rev. Apr. 323 Molecular rest—the theoretical condition of zero-temperature. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXXIII. 299/2 The zero reading and the steam reading would both generally correspond to a falling meniscus.
c. in sense 4: That is of the amount expressed by zero, i.e. none at all; in Math. also transf. applied to a value of a function corresponding to the value 0 of the variable or variables. Hence (colloq.) more widely as adj. in the sense ‘no, not any’.
1879Cayley Math. Papers X. 499 The letter c is used in connexion with the zero values u = 0, v = 0...θ0, θ1, θ2,..are even functions, and the corresponding zero-functions are denoted by c0, c1, c2,{ddd} When (u, v) are indefinitely small each of these functions is of course equal to its zero-value plus a quadric term in (u, v). 1882Minchin Unipl. Kinemat. 25 The surface of still water is agitated by wave disturbances proceeding from three fixed points..: find the points of zero disturbance. 1920Conquest Apr. 257/2 Years of tedious work out of which there was always the chance of a zero result. 1938Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. XXVIII. 329 If each such contact [sc. a mild electric shock received by rats] had been counted as an error, the number of cases of zero-error would have been considerably reduced. 1960[see social distance s.v. social a. 12]. 1962Times 30 Oct. 4/6 Good design points include ‘zero torque’. 1972Listener 22 June 820/3 Why is the notion of zero economic growth so seductive for those who embrace environmental causes? 1976New Yorker 24 May 28/1 Because he had zero toads, Howard had to content himself with the tub of thin green gruel. 1978Peace News 6 Oct. 2/1 We can't call together the group at zero notice. 1981TV Picture Life Mar. 39/3 Jackie claims they now have ‘zero communication’.
d. In sense 4 c: denoting an absence of a feature (as an inflection, or a phonetic or syntactic element) that is present in other cases, and is often indicated by the following word; zero-derivation Linguistics, derivation in which the parent word is not altered; the use of a word with a different grammatical function or in a different (though related) sense; hence zero-derivative a. and n., -derived a.; zero grade Philol., the absence or extreme reduction of an ablaut vowel from a syllable.
1905Amer. Jrnl. Philol. XXVI. 179 The intrusion of the é grade on the zero grade..is..attested for the nasal verbs of the Indo-Iranian group. 1926Bloomfield in Language II. 160 Alternation... Absence of sound may be a phonetic or formal alternant... Such an alternant is a zero element. The postulation of zero elements is necessary for Sanskrit..for Primitive Indo-European..and probably economical for English (singular book with affix zero, as opposed to book-s, cf f-oo-t; f-ee-t). 1933― Language xiii. 215 Another extreme case is that of zero-alternants.., in which a constituent is entirely lacking, as in the plurals sheep, deer, moose, fish. Ibid. xiv. 236 In English, the nouns longlegs, bright-eyes, butterfingers are exocentric, because they occur both as singulars, and, with a zero-affix, as plurals (that longlegs, those longlegs). Ibid. xv. 252 We have zero-anaphora for participles after forms of be and have, as in You were running faster than I was. 1942Language XVIII. 170 In He cut it there is a zero morpheme meaning ‘past time’ after cut. 1947Ibid. XXIII. 340 We may set up the tentative portmanteau..as an alternant of that constituent morpheme which it resembles phonemically, and set up a zero morph as an alternant of the other constituent morpheme. 1954M. Pei Dict. Linguistics 238 Zero ending, in morphology, the bare stem of a word when used as such in discourse is said to have zero ending. 1959Brno Studies in English I. 43 The indefinite article and its zero plural variant. 1960H. Marchand Categories & Types of Present-Day English Word-Formation v. 295 (heading) Zero-derivation as a ‘specifically English’ process. Ibid. 297 There are quite a few vbs with French roots for which no French verbs are recorded and which may accordingly be treated as zero derivatives: feeble vb.., master vb, [etc.]. 1963F. T. Visser Hist. Syntax Eng. Lang. I. iv. 538 The Authorized Version of the Bible clearly fights shy of it: in those places where the Hebrew has a zero-clause, it uses a relative pronoun printed in italics (e.g. Ps. 7, 5, ‘he is fallen into the ditch which he made’). 1964English Studies XLV. (Suppl.) 63 The be going + infinitive group has had a partially independent development. Its opposite in this case is the will + zero infinitive group. 1965Language XLI. 519 The unfortunate myth that there is some essential connection between aorist aspect and stems consisting of zero-grade root plus accented thematic vowel in Indo-European. 1971Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics Fall 31 The use of zero morphs would have greatly facilitated the description..of several problems in Japanese. 1976Archivum Linguisticum VII. 129 Zero-derivation..must be regarded an extremely productive word-formative process both in English and German, but also in other languages. Ibid. 132 The Direct Object-type based on (17b) has two different surface realizations in English: payment and also the zero-derived noun payØ. Ibid. 133, I believe..that act (noun) must be regarded as zero-derivative (actØ) from the corresponding verb. 1979Dictionaries I. 19 The last point concerns zero-derivatives or homographs. 1981Amer. Speech LVI. 229 Other details on which there have been ethnic speculations are the zero genitive of nouns..and the zero subject of a relative clause.
e. Special Combs. (see also sense 7 a, d): zero-balance a., applied to a bank account operated with no continuing balance, funds being transferred into it when necessary to just the extent required to meet drawings made on it; zero beat, a condition existing between two equal frequencies, in which no beats are produced; spec. in Radio, applied attrib. to a method of reception in which the incoming signal is mixed with a receiver-generated oscillation of the same frequency as the carrier wave (see homodyne s.v. homo-); zero-coupon a., applied to a bond carrying no interest but issued below its redemption price; zero-energy a. (Nucl. Physics), applied to a small reactor, usu. built for research purposes, that develops so little power that no cooling and little shielding are required; zero g or G = zero gravity below; zero gravity, the state or condition in which there is no apparent force of gravity acting on a body, either because the force is locally weak, or because both the body and its surroundings are freely and equally accelerating under the force; = weightlessness; zero grazing vbl. n. (Agric.) = soiling vbl. n.4 1; so zero-graze v. trans. = soil v.4 1; zero-grazed ppl. a. = soiled ppl. a.2; zero growth, an absence of increase (in population, production, etc.); zero-length a. (of a rocket launcher) no longer than the rocket it supports; zero norm, in a period of pay restraint, a recommended value of zero for the percentage increase in pay; zero option, a disarmament proposal that if the Soviet Union would withdraw its SS-20 missiles from Europe the U.S.A. would abandon its plan to deploy Pershing and cruise missiles there; zero population growth, an absence of any increase (or decrease) in a population over a period of time; abbrev. ZPG s.v. Z 12 a; zero-power a. (Nucl. Physics) = zero-energy adj. above; zero rating, a rating of zero for the purposes of value added tax; also as vbl. n., the practice of assessing the VAT at zero for a particular item; so zero-rate v. trans., to assess at a VAT rate of zero; zero-rated a.; zero sound: see sound n.3 1 d; zero-sum a., in the theory of games, applied to a game in which the sum of the winnings of all the players is always zero; also transf., denoting any situation in which advantage to one participant necessarily leads to disadvantage to one or more of the others; zero tillage (Agric.) = sod planting s.v. sod n.1 5 b; zero-zero (Aeronaut.), (a) a situation in which both the (horizontal) visibility and the cloud ceiling are technically zero; (b) used attrib. to designate an ejection seat that works even at rest and at zero altitude.
1974U.S. Investor/Eastern Banker 26 Aug. 42/2 With a Zero Balance account, a customer will pay a small charge for actual activity. 1983Fortune 18 Apr. 76/2 A controlled disbursement account is a type that bankers call a ‘zero balance account’—it contains no cash at the end of the day after all checks have been paid. There are no funds left idle.
1927Mod. Wireless Mar. 334/2 The results of fading on an ordinary set using high-frequency amplification were large compared with these effects in zero-beat reception. 1957Practical Wireless XXXIII. 370/1 Tune a signal to zero-beat at the high-wavelength end of the scale. 1982Amer. Jrnl. Physics L. 137/1 With this arrangement, one can explore the zero-beat situation (when frequencies are matched) as well as a variety of non-zero-beat situations.
1979Jrnl. Finance XXXIV. 189 The relationship between yield curves for zero coupon bonds and coupon-bearing bonds is important. 1983Chicago Sun-Times 29 May 5 Following the birth of their first child, the couple purchased $7,000 worth of zero coupon bonds in their daughter's name.
1951Canad. Chem. & Process Industries Jan. 42 (heading) Zero Energy Experimental Pile. 1954R. Stephenson Introd. Nucl. Engin. iii. 82 The smaller one is known as ZEEP (zero energy experimental pile) and is very similar..except that its power level is limited to a few watts. 1981Nucl. Energy XX. 467 Fast neutron fluence measurements in the core of a zero-energy research reactor.
1952A. C. Clarke Islands in Sky v. 80 She was escorted by an elderly woman who seemed to be quite at home under zero ‘g’ and gave Linda a helpful push when she showed signs of being stuck. 1962F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics xii. 477 Walking will be impossible in zero G. 1970N. Armstrong et al. First on Moon vi. 127 Deke Slayton ate the same food we did... In our zero-G situation we were always full. 1978Radio Times 28 Jan. 59/2 Horizon explores all these aspects, with footage from Skylab and reminiscences from ex-inhabitants—the astronauts who call this world zero gravity—zero g for short.
1951A. C. Clarke Sands of Mars i. 5 I'll take you into the zero-gravity section and see how you manage there. 1968New Scientist 12 Sept. 545/1 Astronauts of the future will probably have to build vehicles in space. This will entail joining different metals together under zero-gravity conditions. 1978[see zero g above]. 1979United States 1980/81 (Penguin Travel Guides) 553 You'll be offered the opportunity to..experience weightlessness in a zero-gravity machine. 1984News (Mexico City) 12 Mar. 22/4 Two of the first drugs that will be produced in zero gravity in mass quantities are beta cells..and interferon.
1956Britannica Bk. of Year 316/1 Studies indicated that green-chopping, sometimes called zero-grazing or soiling (bringing the pasture to the livestock), resulted in forage yields about double those from grazing. 1958Agriculture LXV. 129 Zero grazed animals also put on greater weight during the summer months than those out grazing. Ibid. 131 The cattle have been zero grazed since May 1956. 1970R. Jeffries Dead Man's Bluff vi. 56 Cows were zero-grazed and never stepped off concrete. 1978Exper. Husbandry No. 33, 18 (heading) Beef from spring-born zero-grazed Friesians—comparison of bulls, steers and late castrates. 1984‘D. Archer’ Ambridge Yrs. 19 There are other herds that never go out into pasture... They have their grass cut and carted to them, a method called ‘zero-grazing’.
1973Science 15 June 1143 The possibility of zero growth in the population of the United States. 1976Atlantic Monthly Jan. 4 Can economies have simultaneously zero growth, rapid inflation, substantial unemployment, and a balance of payments deficit? 1976N.Y. Times Mag. 4 July 73 Power to stop new construction is wielded through the..water board.., a majority of which is dedicated to zero growth.
1954K. W. Gatland Developm. Guided Missile (ed. 2) iii. 79 (caption) A later G.A.P.A. rocket being adjusted on a ‘zero-length’ launcher.
1966Economist 17 Dec. 1214/1 There is no bogy-man so dismal to those who run Britain's economy as the dreaded Zero Norm, the spectre who is supposed to rule over pay negotiations in the six-month period of ‘severe restraint’ that replaces the total pay freeze from New Year's Day. 1976F. Zweig New Acquisitive Society ii. i. 80 A zero norm which equalizes everybody is easier to endure.
1981Washington Post 5 July a20/1 By reviving controversy about a moratorium and the ‘zero option’, Brandt's trip appears to have realized some of the fears of those in the West German government and opposition party. 1983Financial Times 10 Feb. 11/6 Mr. George Bush, the U.S. Vice-President, last night confirmed Washington's willingness to consider alternatives to its zero option proposals for banning intermediate range nuclear missiles from Europe.
1967Science 10 Nov. 732/2 Most discussions of the population crisis lead logically to zero population growth as the ultimate goal. 1974Environmental Conservation I. 15/1 It is my estimate that zero population growth will be reached..some time during the next decade.
1950Nucleonics Sept. 104/2 Zero-power reactor, an experimental nuclear reactor operated at low neutron flux and at a power level so low that not only is no forced cooling required but also fission-product activity in the fuel is sufficiently low to allow the fuel to be handled after use without serious hazard. 1983Trans. Amer. Nucl. Soc. XLIV. 528/2 Plate versus pin geometry continues to be an issue for Zero-Power Plutonium Reactor (ZPPR) analysis.
1972Daily Tel. 22 Mar. 19/3 Zero-rating a transaction, rather than exempting it, is advantageous, because a trader is allowed credit for any VAT paid on his inputs. 1975Times 11 Feb. 6/4 The first thing the Government could do would be to zero-rate the theatre for VAT.
1972Daily Tel. 22 Mar. 17/4 A firm which supplies zero-rated goods or services gets complete relief from Value Added Tax both on its purchases and on its sales. 1976Horse & Hound 3 Dec. 28 (Advt.), Rubber riding boots. Best quality, shiny leather-look finish. Price {pstlg}3·45 (zero rated).
1971Nature 3 Dec. 310/3 The recently reported claim of the salvage industries to be given zero rating for value-added tax..can also be extended. 1972Daily Tel. 22 Mar. 17 Mr Barber explained the difference between exemption from VAT and ‘zero rating’. 1984Bookseller 3 Nov. 1857/1 Books are the essential tools of society and zero-rating is a very efficient way of encouraging their wide availability.
1944von Neumann & Morgenstern Theory of Games ii. 47 An important viewpoint in classifying games is this: Is the sum of all payments received by all players (at the end of the game) always zero; or is this not the case?.. We shall call games of the first mentioned type zero-sum games. 1966S. Beer Decision & Control x. 210 Perhaps the contestants in most important games nowadays (from labour disputes..to international diplomacy) too readily regard their games as zero-sum. 1967L. B. Archer in Wills & Yearsley Handbk. Management Technol. vii. 121 Everybody can win. Manufacturing is not a zero-sum game. 1971Times Lit. Suppl. 22 Oct. 1335/3 C. Wright Mills..used a zero-sum conception of power (i.e., the more one person had the less was available to others). 1980Ibid. 26 Sept. 1072/2 In Europe [in the 1930s] class conflict was seen as a zero-sum game in which one group could only benefit at the expense of another. 1983Listener 15 Dec. 31/1 We live in a zero-sum world, and it was inconceivable that the strains of setting up a completely new operation within an essentially fixed budget would not eventually begin to tell.
1971New Scientist 25 Mar. 663/1 Even fairly low levels of pesticide destroyed these bacteria... The situation is made even worse by the growing popularity of ‘zero-tillage’. 1979Austral. Financial Rev. 16 Aug., Farmers using zero tillage leave straw and stubble on the field and this trash cover helps to eliminate erosion, conserve moisture,..and reduce salinity problems.
1939Hixson & Colodny Word Ways xvi. 141 Zero-zero (no visibility in any direction). 1947Shell Aviation News No. 113. 7/2 There are few greater nervous strains than that experienced by a pilot of a transport in deciding to switch over from instruments and manually bring the ship in these last few hundred feet when visibility is ‘zero-zero’. 1961Aeroplane C. 593/2 The most interesting item in the Martin-Baker Aircraft Co., Ltd., display..is the prototype rocket-assisted ‘zero-zero’ ejection seat for VTOL aircraft. 1967Times Rev. Industry June 53/1 Category 3C represents visibility of less than 50 metres and includes ‘zero-zero’ conditions under which safety experts believe operations will not be possible for a very long time. 1977P. Way Super-Celeste 215 They had explained to him the controls of his zero-zero ejection seat.
Sense 7 in Dict. becomes 8. Add: 7. Finance. ellipt. for ‘zero-coupon bond’ (see sense 8 e below).
1986Times 18 Dec. 23/6 Zeros would have lower yields, producing a net saving to the authorities. 1990Burrough & Helyar Barbarians at Gate xi. 297 You guys are doing this all wrong. All these junk bonds, PIKs and Zeros, this and that. It's crazy.
[8.] [e.] zero-zero, (c) = double zero s.v. *double a. (adv.) C. 2 a.
1986Observer 19 Oct. 10/3 At least four important shifts were signalled by Gorbachov during the summit... His opening bid had been to offer zero-zero in Europe, combined with a freeze at existing levels in Asia. 1987New Scientist 16 Apr. 49/4 It sits rather uneasily if Pershing II and Cruise are..to be negotiated away under the zero-zero option.
▸ orig. U.S.to go (etc.) from zero to hero: to experience a sudden increase in popularity or success, esp. from a position of low achievement or esteem. Also zero-to-hero adj.: relating to or involving such a sudden increase in popularity or success. Cf. hero-to-zero at hero n. Additions.
1985Los Angeles Times 8 Apr. vi. 4/1 In what might be considered atonement for this ‘zero to hero’ effect, Japan has spawned Loudness, a melodious metal outfit. 1986Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 11 July iii. 1/5 Tony Gwynn went from zero to hero. 1996F. Popcorn Clicking iii. 431 He had already gone for the Zero-to-Hero route. 1998N.Y. Now (Electronic ed.) 20 Dec. The NBC sitcom ‘Just Shoot Me’.. has gone from zero to hero, moved from a ratings drain to a ratings winner. 2000Observer 19 Nov. (Business section) 9/1 Some of the principal entrepreneurial qualities that transformed him from zero to hero are now working against him.
▸ zero-tolerance n. orig. U.S. resolute opposition or resistance to anti-social (esp. criminal) behaviour, typically by strict and uncompromising application of the law; a stated policy of this kind, designed to eliminate unacceptable conduct, esp. of a specified kind.
1972N.Y. Times 6 Dec. 22/1 Federal officials..say the calculations..were based on ‘assuming *zero tolerance’ from now on for inelegibility and overpayments. 1988Time Austral. (Sydney) 23 May 49/2 The Reagan administration calls its new drug policy ‘zero tolerance’, meaning that planes, vehicles and vessels may be confiscated for carrying even the smallest amount of a controlled substance. 1990Harvard Business Rev. Mar.–Apr. 13/3 The company administers monthly pulmonary tests in behalf of the zero-tolerance smoking policy. 1997Daily Tel. 7 Jan. 1/2 The Labour leader pledged his support for ‘zero tolerance’ schemes pioneered in New York..in which the police target even the most minor criminal behaviour. 2001Western Daily Press (Bristol) (Electronic ed.) 31 Jan. Local police forces are planning to introduce a zero tolerance policy in respect of the 70 mph speed limit on the region's motorways.
▪ II. zero, v.|ˈzɪərəʊ|
[f. the n.]
I.
1. trans. To set the sights of (a rifle) using targets at known distances.
1913A. G. Fulton Notes on Rifle Shooting 30 (Advt.), A Zero Target, by means of which any novice may correctly zero his own rifle. 1918H. McBride Emma Gees ix. 119 ‘Zeroing’ a rifle is the process of testing it out on a range of known distances and setting the sights to suit one's individual peculiarities of aiming. 1958L. van der Post Lost World Kalahari vii. 142, I had not yet fired at a live target, though..I had zeroed it on a marked one. 1979D. Lowden Boudapesti 3 xxxii. 176 The rifle had been zeroed..at an elevation of 200.
2. zero in.
a. trans. To range guns or missiles on (a target). Usu. pass.
1944Newsweek 8 Jan. 45 Don't you know the Jerries have that road zeroed in?—a phrase meaning the Germans had sighted their guns on the road and needed only to pull their triggers. 1945Finito! Po Valley Campaign (15th Army Group) 41 Road junction 711 was not only mined, but zeroed in. 1965H. Kahn On Escalation iv. 74 American bases overseas and American targets on the mainland are at all times zeroed in by Soviet missiles, and vice versa. 1971Scope (S. Afr.) 19 Mar. 20/4 These roads were well covered by strongpoints, and zeroed-in by artillery.
b. trans. To aim (a weapon) at a target. Const. on.
1944Life 14 Aug. 57/1 Germans who had retreated out of town ‘zeroed in’ mortar shells among troops and light tanks which tried to follow. 1950N.Y. Herald 26 Aug. 2/1 Guns are ‘zeroed in’ on the junction. 1961Time (Atlantic ed.) 17 Feb. 16 The Russians now have some 50 ICBMs ready to go, presumably zeroed in on U.S. targets.
c. intr. To focus attention on, to concentrate on. Also transf. (const. on), to get a closer view of a subject with a camera.
1959Guardian 1 Dec. 15/4 So far..Governor Rockefeller has spoken out on space research, the housing of Puerto Ricans, crop subsidies... Now he is zeroing-in on the social drinkers. 1961D. Huff Score (1962) p. ix, This book..will narrow the subject down to the specific material you are likely to encounter in a variety of fields... Finally this book will zero-in on the increasingly important psychological tests. 1971Daily Tel. 18 Oct. 14 An excited Taiwanese photographer zeroed in on the frail figure..with a long-range lens. 1972Screw 12 June 21/2 The storyline, such as it is, zeros in on a classy whore⁓house in a banana republic. 1974A. Dillard Pilgrim at Tinker Creek viii. 143 Zero in on a well-watered shore. 1976Word 1971 XXVII. 142 Wittgenstein zeroes in upon linguistic constraints and logical conditions as they are made manifest in common, ordinary speech. 1983Listener 14 Apr. 33/1 Its staff were slowly but surely zeroing in on the essential secret of successful breakfast broadcasting in this country. 1985Weekly World News (U.S.) 1 Jan. 11/1 Security cameras were installed to stop vandalism, but they zeroed in on the athletes as they traipsed back and forth across a corridor from the shower to their locker room.
d. intr. To move towards, as if to a target. Also fig. Const. on.
1959Guardian 26 Sept. 5/2 The squadrons of flies that zeroed in on his shiny pate. 1961J. Steinbeck Winter of our Discontent xxi. 300 For twenty years that check has zeroed in on the first of every month. 1965J. A. Michener Source (1966) 797 A series of bullets was beginning to zero-in on her, and in a few more steps she was sure to be hit. 1968K. Amis I want it Now i. 27 By the time he got back to the girl two other men had zeroed in on her. 1972W. Garner Ditto, Brother Rat! iv. 30, I zeroed in on the downstairs bar. 1974Newsweek 8 Apr. 51/1 In recent months, instrumented spacecraft have zeroed in on Venus, Mars and Jupiter to provide astronomers with a wealth of significant new data on those planets. 1978G. A. Sheehan Running & Being xii. 174 A pacemaker..had zeroed in on the perfect pace.
II.
3. To fix the zero hour for (a military operation).
1926Blackw. Mag. 774/1 Plan no. 7 will be put in operation to-night. It will be zeroed as from 23.00 hours.
4. = zeroize v.
1949W. F. Goodell in J. F. Blackburn Components Handbk. x. 331 This zero convention makes it possible to ‘zero’ the dial of a synchro motor on one unit of a system. 1951C. W. Kennedy Inspection & Gaging ix. 293 An error would result if the air gage were zeroed against a 5-microinch surface and then used to compare the diameter of a bore with a 200-microinch surface roughness. 1969[see odometer]. 1974Physics Bull. Mar. 108/2 An offset control allows the pen to be zeroed at any point on the chart. 1982Homes & Gardens Jan. 17/3 One button..can zero the read-out at any point, allowing you to add ingredients without emptying the bowl.
III. 5. zero out. trans. To eliminate.
1967Word XXIII. 316 We ‘zero out’ the voicing of /b/, which is not at all to deny that /b/ is voiced. 1972W. Labov Language in Inner City ii. 52 The deletion of are has reached such a high point that it is effectively zeroed out for many speakers. 1982Daily Tel. 25 Jan. 12/7 Watch..for word of new budget cuts, including Federal programmes that are to be ‘zeroed out’.
[III.] [5.] For def. read: To eliminate or delete, to omit. Also without out. (Earlier and later examples.)
1965Language XLI. 397 We can zero a repetitive subject under W: (1) We prefer our studying French. → We prefer studying French. 1973Word 1966 XXII. 7 Etymologies of words subsequently zeroed from the vocabulary of Webster's Third have been replaced. 1990Tennis July 86/2 A graphic appeared on the screen. ‘Zero Screen 311!’ he bellowed. |