green zonen.
/ˈɡriːn ˌzəʊn/, U.S. /ˈɡrin ˌzoʊn/ 1. On a gauge or dial: a green sector corresponding to safe or recommended conditions. Also figurative: a category or class denoting that which is safe or recommended. Cf. red zone n. 3.
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1915 Washington Post 7 Nov. (Misc. section) 1/4 The device..is the simple one of dividing the dial into three zones, differently colored—a white zone for low speed, a green zone extending to the legal speed limit and a red zone above the lawful limit.
1974 Southern Illinoisan 22 Oct. 14/5 Probe down with the oxygen meter to find the maximum green zone readings.
1983 Washington Post 24 Sept. 23/1 About three-quarters of China's requests are expected to fall in what is known as the ‘green zone’, which carries the presumption of approval.
1996 R. M. Putzrath in C. R. Cothern Handbk. Environmental Risk Decision Making xvii. 251 All values below the level of (practical) concern can be designated as in the green zone. Those above a critical level would be in the red zone.
2009 L. Hawking & S. Hawking George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt xv. 252 He looked at her air tank and saw that it was getting close to the red zone—running dangerously low. He looked at George's, but his was still in the green zone—plenty still in there.
2. Chiefly U.S. An area in which on-street parking is allowed (often with specified restrictions). Cf. red zone n. 1b.
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1935 Los Angeles Times 18 Oct. ii. 1/3 The green zones are being placed, six to a block, from First to Tenth street on Broadway.
1970 Lawton (Okla.) Constit. 12 May 1/1 Removal of the green zones, used primarily by downtown employees, will help fill parking lots.
2005 S. R. Murphy Cat cross their Graves 270 ‘All right!’ Cora Lee said, pulling into a twenty-minute green zone just in front of the library. ‘The parking gods are with us.’
3. An area which is regarded as safe, or into which entry is permitted. Cf. red zone n. 1c.Now esp. with reference to the area of central Baghdad used as a secure base by international coalition forces and authorities following the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
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1999 Associated Press Newswire (Nexis) 2 Mar. Sheets of snow and rock had slid down the mountains in the past, but for 300 years there was no record of them going into the ‘green zone’ considered safe for building.
2001 Humanist July–Aug. 16/1 In this area—supposedly the ‘Green Zone’ (safe, nonconfrontational, nowhere near the front line)—a booth set up by Food Not Bombs provided sustenance all weekend.
2003 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 9 Nov. iv. 7/2 In the last two weeks, there have been multiple attacks on the coalition headquarters in Baghdad, with mortars and rockets landing inside the secure green zone.
2009 New Yorker 14 Dec. 68/2 He argued that the U.N. should establish a secure enclave in Mogadishu: ‘You have a Green Zone in Baghdad, so why not one in Mogadishu?’
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1915