zoom

Noun (1)

zoom (countable and uncountable, plural zooms)

1. A humming noise from something moving very fast.
   • the zoom of traffic
2. (figuratively) A quick ascent.
3. (figuratively) A big increase.
4. An augmentation of a view, by varying the focal length of a lens, or digitally.
   • What's the zoom like on your camera?
5. (slang, uncountable) A recreational drug comprising a mixture of PCP and cannabis.

Verb (1)

zoom (third-person singular simple present zooms, present participle zooming, simple past and past participle zoomed)

1. To move fast with a humming noise.
   • We zoomed along the highway.
   • He ran to his right and another shot came at his legs. It hit the floor and zoomed into a huge carboy of clams that split in half and emptied a hundred shell-fish over the floor.1954, Ian Fleming, “Midnight Among The Worms”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 160
2. To zoom climb.
3. To move rapidly.
4. To go up sharply.
   • prices zoomed
5. To change the focal length of a zoom lens.
6. To manipulate a display so as to magnify or shrink it.
   • to zoom in or zoom out
7. (transitive) To check someone out; to investigate someone that one is interested in.
   • (Who's zoomin' who?) / Take another look and tell me, baby / (Who's zoomin' who?) / Who's zoomin' who? / (Who's zoomin' who?) / Now the fish jumped off the hook, didn't I, baby? / (Who's zoomin' who?) / Yeah1985 August 27, Aretha Franklin, Preston Glass, Narada Michael Walden, “Who's Zoomin' Who”, in Who's Zoomin' Who?, performed by Aretha Franklin, track 4
   • "It boggles my mind what kind of mentality is at work there." He pointed to two recent issues of the magazine that featured cover stories were about Whitney Houston and Luther Vandross, two pop music icons whose sexual orientations have been widely speculated on in Black lesbian and gay...1990 December 16, Chris Nealon, quoting Al Cunningham, “Essence Magazine Agrees To Run Gay Advertisement”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 22, page 13

Interjection

1. Representing a humming sound
   • Makowsky was playing the Bassgeige. Zoom... zoom-zoom.... The rest of the orchestra would join in presently.1918, Annie Vivanti Chartres, The Outrage, page 196
2. Suggesting something moving quickly
   • I would dance a few light fantastic steps to show which way the wind lay, and zoom! Like a breeze I was on the piano stool and doing a velocity exercise.1939, Henry Miller, Tropic of Capricorn, Grove Press, published 1962, page 244
3. Suggesting a sudden change, especially an improvement or an increase

Verb (2)

zoom (third-person singular simple present zooms, present participle zooming, simple past and past participle zoomed)

1. To participate in a video teleconferencing call.

Noun (2)

zoom (plural zooms)

1. A video teleconferencing call.
   • Then, later that day, I logged onto a zoom call and my mother and I set up our yoga mats in the living room, as we had been doing a couple of times a week during the pandemic.2022 September 27, Barclay Bram, “My Therapist, the Robot”, in The New York Times

Verb (3) capitalized: Zoom

Zoom (third-person singular simple present Zooms, present participle Zooming, simple past and past participle Zoomed)

1. (ambitransitive) To communicate with someone using the Zoom videoconferencing software.
   • Whether you’re Zooming it in or not sitting down on the job, here’s how to do it right.2018 February 20, Adrienne So, “Sitting in on Remote Meetings? Working at a Standing Desk? Follow These Tips.”, in Wired
   • These are professional, managerial, and technical workers – an estimated 35% of the workforce – who are putting in long hours at their laptops, Zooming into conferences, scanning electronic documents, and collecting about the same pay as before the crisis.2020 April 26, Robert Reich, “Covid-19 pandemic shines a light on a new kind of class divide and its inequalities”, in The Guardian
2. (alternative, broadly) Alternative form of zoom (“to participate in a video teleconferencing call”).

Noun (3) capitalized: Zoom

Zoom (plural Zooms)

1. A videoconference using Zoom.
   • I have two Zooms tomorrow: one in the morning and another at noon.
2. (alternative, broadly) Alternative form of zoom (“a video teleconference call.”).
3. (informal) A video teleconference service or website.