zone

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An area or a region distinguished from adjacent parts by a distinctive feature or characteristic.
2. n. Any of the five regions of the surface of the earth that are loosely divided according to prevailing climate and latitude, including the Torrid Zone, the North and South Temperate zones, and the North and South Frigid zones.
3. n. A similar division on any other planet.
4. n. Mathematics A portion of a sphere bounded by the intersections of two parallel planes with the sphere.
5. n. Ecology An area characterized by distinct physical conditions and populated by communities of certain kinds of organisms.
6. n. Anatomy A ringlike or cylindrical growth or structure.
7. n. Geology A region or stratum distinguished by composition or content.
8. n. A section of an area or territory established for a specific purpose, as a section of a city restricted to a particular type of building, enterprise, or activity: a residential zone.
9. n. An area of a given radius within which a uniform rate is charged, as for transportation or shipping.
10. n. Computer Science A region on a punch card or on magnetic tape in which nondigital information is recorded.
11. n. Computer Science A section of storage to be used for a particular purpose.
12. n. Archaic A belt or girdle.
13. v. To divide into zones.
14. v. To designate or mark off into zones.
15. v. To surround or encircle with or as if with a belt or girdle.
16. adj. Of, relating to, associated with, or divided into zones; zonal.
17. adj. Sports Of, relating to, or being a system of defense, especially in basketball and football, in which each defender guards a predetermined part of the playing area rather than an individual player.
18. zone out Informal To lose concentration or become inattentive.
19. idiom. in the zone Informal In a state of focused attention or energy so that one's performance is enhanced: a goalie who was in the zone throughout the playoffs.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A portion of the surface of a sphere cut off by one plane.
2. n. A belt on the surface of the earth or of the celestial sphere included between two parallels to the equator.
3. n. In phytogeography, a vegetation ring or belt: referring more directly to the plant-content itself or to the areas marked by œcological difference. By Humboldt, and now with general consent, but with difference in application, used of circumpolar, roughly longitudinal belts of plant forms, which follow isothermal lines more nearly than parallels, the controlling factor being temperature. These are sometimes termed zones of latitude. See life zone.
4. n. One of the different levels of a shaft-furnace, characterized according to the reaction which takes place in it: as, the zone of fusion, reduction-zone, etc.
5. n. Transition climate, in which the variation is greater than 15° C. and less than 20° C.
6. n. Land climate, in which the variation is greater than 20° C. and less than 40° C.
7. n. Extreme continental climate in which the variations are greater than 40° C. Koeppen's climatic zones are arbitrary divisions based upon temperature considerations as follows: A tropical zone having an average temperature of over 68° F.
8. n. A subtropical zone which has the same temperature during 4 to 11 months.
9. n. A constant temperate zone with a temperature between 50 and 68° F.
10. n. A hot summer temperate zone which has an average temperature that sometimes falls below 50° F.
11. n. A moderate summer and cold winter temperate zone with a temperature between 50 and 68° F.
12. n. A cold zone with a prevailing temperature below 50° F.
13. n. A polar zone with an average temperature always below 50° F. Wojeikoff's climatic zones are distinguished according to the quantity and character of the rainfall. Twelve climatic regions are shown upon his maps as follows: A zone of ocean trades with very rare rainfalls.
14. n. A region of equatorial rains, including the zone of calms.
15. n. A region of rain which prevails throughout the year.
16. n. A subtropical zone with rainless summers.
17. n. A zone of the fall and winter rains of middle latitudes.
18. n. The zone of summer rainfall of middle latitudes.
19. n. The zone of equal distribution of rain throughout all seasons.
20. n. A polar region with light snows in winter.
21. n. Deserts and semi-deserts with an annual precipitation less than 250 mm. (10 in.).
22. n. (10) The region of the Australian monsoons.
23. n. (11) The region of the Asiatic monsoons.
24. n. (12) The region of the African monsoons. Climatic zones in altitude correspond to climatic zones in latitude and are marked by the retardation of the dates of the development of vegetation; this retardation amounts to about ten days for every 300 meters of increase in altitude in the Alps, or four days for 800 meters in France.
25. n. that their southward distribution is governed by the mean temperature of a brief period covering the hottest part of the year. Upon this basis Merriam has made the following transcontinental divisions for North America:
26. n. Tropical region (not subdivided latitudinally).
27. n. Upon the basis of humidity, the transition zone is subdivided into the Alleghanian area, the arid transition area, and the Pacific Coast transition area; the Upper Austral into the Carolinian and Upper Sonoran areas; and the Lower Austral into the Austroriparian (Louisianian) and the Lower Sonoran areas. See phrases under area.
28. n. A bed or series of beds in any geological formation characterized by certain fossils or groups of fossils: nearly equivalent in meaning to life-horizon.
29. n. A girdle or belt worn as an article of dress.
30. n. A belt or band round anything, as a stripe of different color or substance round an object; figuratively, any circumscribing or surrounding line, real or imaginary; a circuitous line, path, or course; an inclosing circle.
31. n. Specifically, in geography, one of five arbitrary divisions of the earth's surface, bounded by lines parallel to the equator, each named according to its prevailing temperature; a climatic belt. These climatic zones are
32. n. Any continuous tract or belt differing in character from adjoining tracts; a definite area or region within which some distinguishing circumstances exist or are established: as, the zones of natural history, distinguished by special forms of vegetable or animal life; a zone of free trade; a free zone on the border of a country or between adjoining states. Naturalists formerly divided the sea-bottom into five zones in accordance with the depth of water covering each, which was supposed to determine its fauna and flora. They were called respectively littoral, circumlittoral, median, inframedian, and abyssal. Later researches have proved that the assumed facts were to a great extent erroneous, organisms supposed to be confined to the littoral zone having been found at the greatest depths. In geology zone has nearly the same meaning as horizon. A stratum, or a group of strata, may be characterized by the presence of a certain assemblage of fossils, or by one particular fossil; in such cases the most abundant or typical fossil may give a name to the subdivision in which it occurs, which will then be designated as the zone of that particular species. Thns, the Lower and the Middle Lias have together been divided into twelve zones, each characterized by the presence of a certain species of ammonite: as, the “zone of the Arietites (Ammonites) raricostatus,” etc.
33. n. In mathematics, a part of the surface of a sphere included between two parallel planes.
34. n. In crystallography, a series of planes having their lines of intersection parallel.
35. To encircle with or as if with a zone; bring within a zone, or divide into zones or belts, in any sense.
36. To be formed into zones.

Wiktionary

1. n. geography Each of the five regions of the earth's surface into which it was divided by climatic differences, namely the torrid zone (between the tropics), two temperate zones (between the tropics and the polar circles), and two frigid zones (within the polar circles).
2. n. Any given region or area of the world.
3. n. A given area distinguished on the basis of a particular characteristic, use, restriction, etc.
4. n. baseball Short for the strike zone.
5. n. A high performance phase or period.
6. n. networking That collection of a domain's DNS resource records, the domain and its subdomains, that are not delegated to another authority.
7. n. Apple computing A logical group of network devices on AppleTalk.
8. n. now literary A belt or girdle.
9. n. geometry The frustum of a sphere.
10. v. To divide into or assign sections or areas.
11. v. To define the property use classification of an area.
12. v. To enter a daydream state temporarily, for instance as a result of boredom, fatigue, or intoxication; to doze off.
13. v. To girdle or encircle.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Poetic A girdle; a cincture.
2. n. (Geog.) One of the five great divisions of the earth, with respect to latitude and temperature.
3. n. (Math.) The portion of the surface of a sphere included between two parallel planes; the portion of a surface of revolution included between two planes perpendicular to the axis.
4. n. A band or stripe extending around a body.
5. n. A band or area of growth encircling anything
6. n. (Crystallog.) A series of planes having mutually parallel intersections.
7. n. rare Circuit; circumference.
8. n. (Biogeography) An area or part of a region characterized by uniform or similar animal and plant life; a life zone
9. n. (Cryst.) A series of faces whose intersection lines with each other are parallel.
10. n. The aggregate of stations, in whatsoever direction or on whatsoever line of railroad, situated between certain maximum and minimum limits from a point at which a shipment of traffic originates.
11. n. Any circular or ring-shaped area within which the street-car companies make no differences of fare.
12. n. any area to or within which a shipment or transportation cost is constant in the United States parcel-post system, any of the areas about any point of shipment for which but one rate of postage is charged for a parcel post shipment from that point. The rate increases from within outwards. The first zone includes the unit of area “(a quadrangle 30 minutes square)” in which the place of shipment is situated and the 8 contiguous units; the outer limits of the second to the seventh zones, respectively, are approximately 150, 300, 600, 1000, 1400, and 1800 miles from the point of shipment; the eighth zone includes all units of area outside the seventh zone.
13. v. rare To girdle; to encircle.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. (anatomy) any encircling or beltlike structure
2. v. separate or apportion into sections
3. v. regulate housing in; of certain areas of towns
4. n. an area or region distinguished from adjacent parts by a distinctive feature or characteristic
5. n. a locally circumscribed place characterized by some distinctive features
6. n. any of the regions of the surface of the Earth loosely divided according to latitude or longitude