Fwd: "zoned" - Word of the Day from the OED

[Dave Monroe]

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Date: Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 7:30 PM
Subject: "zoned" - Word of the Day from the OED
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OED Online Word of the Day
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zoned, a.

SECOND EDITION 1989

(znd)  [f. ZONE n. or v. + -ED.]

    1. Located in a zone or region of the celestial sphere: = ZONIC a.
Obs. rare1.

1662 STANLEY Hist. Chaldaick Philos. 4 Or else by fiery Zone, he means
the Seat of the zoned Deities just above the Empyreal or Corporeal
Heaven.

    2. Wearing a zone or girdle. Hence, virgin, chaste.

1718 POPE Odyss. XXIII. 142 Fair zoned damsels. 1829 LYTTON Devereux
II. ix, A zoned and untainted Innocence.

    3. Characterized by or arranged (naturally) in zones, rings, or bands.

1794 R. J. SULIVAN View Nat. I. 435 The zoned or tabulated form of the
onyx. 1805-17 R. JAMESON Char. Min. (ed. 3) 213 Zoned (zonaire), when
a row of facets is arranged around the middle part, thus forming a
kind of zone or girdle. Example, Zoned calcareous-spar. 1845 G. DODD
Brit. Manuf. Ser. IV. 200 As a fifth source of variety [in wood] may
be mentioned eyes, zoned spots, and curls.

    b. Marked with zones, circles, or bands of colour.

1792 WITHERING Brit. Plants (ed. 2) III. 433 Auricularia
ferruginea,..zoned above. 1805 SHAW Nat. Misc. XVI. pl. 657 The Zoned
Parrot. 1849 W. H. HARVEY Brit. Mar. Algæ 121 Zoned tetraspores exist
in Rhod[ymenia] ciliata. 1874 BIRCH 1st and 2nd Egypt. Rooms B. Mus.
31 With side handles of zoned alabaster.

    4. a. Arranged according to zones or definite regions.

1795 HERSCHEL in Phil. Trans. LXXXV. 384 A zoned catalogue of the
stars. 1890 A. M. CLERKE Syst. Stars v. 80 The spectra of the great
nebulæ, like those of the ‘zoned’ stars, must be considered as
integrating the results of emanations taking their rise under notably
diverse circumstances.

    b. Distributed according to zones. Cf. ZONE v. 5.

1943 Daily Express 16 Sept. 3/3 Compelling some grocers to buy their
zoned cake through the co-ops.

    5. (Town) Planning. Designated for a particular type of use or
development. orig. U.S.

1920 Michigan Rep. (Michigan Supreme Court) May 210 A penalty is
provided for violation of said ordinance with a mandate prohibiting
departments of the city from issuing permits for erection of the
forbidden buildings within such zoned district. 1939 Florida (Fed.
Writers' Project) III. 396 Zoned residential, business, and industrial
districts. 1970 Cape Times 28 Oct. 20/3 (Advt.), Paarl shopping
centre. On 11000 sq. ft., zoned special business with free car
park..in fast developing area.
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DRAFT ADDITIONS JUNE 2002

    zoned, adj.

   slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.). [Perhaps influenced by OZONED adj.,
ZONKED adj., or STONED adj.; though compare SPACED adj.] Also with
out.

    a. Of a person: intoxicated by drugs or alcohol; (in extended use)
characteristic of a person in such a state; weird, offbeat, surreal.
Cf. ZONKED adj. 1.

1971 Current Slang(Univ. S. Dakota) 6 11 Zoned, drunk. 1982 Time
(Nexis) 4 Jan. 86 A well-turned hour of live, zoned-out comedy, which
featured everything from Belushi to Bartok and raised the question,
‘Did the dinosaurs build Stonehenge?’. 1985 U.S. News & World Rep. 1
Apr. 68/2 A few are so doped they're zombies... You just about have to
set a cherry bomb off under them to get their heads up because they're
all zoned out. 1987 N. SPINRAD Little Heroes 332 He was zoned, hung
over, and exhausted already, and the contemplation of sex brought only
unbearable images that quenched any desire. 1991 Boston Globe 27 Dec.
(Living Section) 48/5 Peppered with howler cameos, ranging from
Deborah Harry's metallic-beehive moan with a screeching
nails-on-a-blackboard voice to Pia Zadora's zoned-out hippie. 1994
Movieline Jan.-Feb. 88/2 Movies today can offer nothing to compare
with the sight of sloe-eyed MM, stuffed into a skintight dress, lazily
singing ‘Kiss’, as if she's zoned on downers. 2000 M. HAMID Moth Smoke
xiii. 232 My mouth is dry and I'm zoned on hairy.

    b. Of a person: exhausted, burnt out; unresponsive, detached. Cf.
ZONKED adj. 2.

1980 L. BIRNBACH et al. Official Preppy Handbk. 223/2 Zoned,..blitzed,
exhausted, burned out. 1981 Daily Tel. 20 Feb. 17/2 Parents are quick
to imitate their young and can be heard to exclaim they are ‘really
psyched’ (carried away) or perhaps ‘zoned’ (exhausted). 1988 Sun
(Brisbane) 30 Nov. (Comics section) 41 You're zoned, Dad... It means
you'll never be up on the current slang. 1993 H. STERN Private Parts
vi. 191 I've asked Bob Hope questions nobody else would..and there's
no way of telling if he's just avoided answering them or he's too
zoned out to understand. 1996 G. SCOTT Can we Talk? ix. 223 As a
result, a growing concern was that we were in danger of becoming a
nation of zoned-out ‘couch potatoes’.

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