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Zenithal to Zirconium
Zenithal
(Ze"nith*al) a. Of or pertaining to the zenith. "The deep zenithal blue." Tyndall.
Zeolite
(Ze"o*lite) n. [Gr. to boil + -lite: cf. F. zéolithe.] (Min.) A term now used to designate any one
of a family of minerals, hydrous silicates of alumina, with lime, soda, potash, or rarely baryta. Here are
included natrolite, stilbite, analcime, chabazite, thomsonite, heulandite, and others. These species occur
of secondary origin in the cavities of amygdaloid, basalt, and lava, also, less frequently, in granite and
gneiss. So called because many of these species intumesce before the blowpipe.
Needle zeolite, needlestone; natrolite.
Zeolitic
(Ze`o*lit"ic) a. Of or pertaining to a zeolite; consisting of, or resembling, a zeolite.
Zeolitiform
(Ze`o*lit"i*form) a. Having the form of a zeolite.
Zephyr
(Zeph"yr) n. [L. zephyrus, Gr. akin to darkness, the dark side, west: cf. F. zéphyr.] The west
wind; poetically, any soft, gentle breeze. "Soft the zephyr blows." Gray.
As gentle
As zephyrs blowing below the violet. Shak. Zephyr cloth, a thin kind of cassimere made in Belgium; also, a waterproof fabric of wool. — Zephyr
shawl, a kind of thin, light, embroidered shawl made of worsted and cotton. — Zephyr yarn, or worsted,
a fine, soft kind of yarn or worsted, - - used for knitting and embroidery.
Zephyrus
(||Zeph"y*rus) n. [L. See Zephyr.] The west wind, or zephyr; — usually personified, and
made the most mild and gentle of all the sylvan deities.
Mild as when Zephyrus on Flora breathes. Milton. Zequin
(Ze"quin) n. See Sequin.
Zerda
(||Zer"da) n. [Of African origin.] (Zoöl.) The fennec.
Zeriba
(||Ze*ri"ba) n. (Mil.) Same as Zareba.
Zero
(Ze"ro) n.; pl. Zeros (#) or Zeroes. [F. zéro, from Ar. çafrun, çifrun, empty, a cipher.
Cf. Cipher.]
1. (Arith.) A cipher; nothing; naught.
2. The point from which the graduation of a scale, as of a thermometer, commences.
Zero in the Centigrade, or Celsius thermometer, and in the Réaumur thermometer, is at the point at which
water congeals. The zero of the Fahrenheit thermometer is fixed at the point at which the mercury stands
when immersed in a mixture of snow and common salt. In Wedgwood's pyrometer, the zero corresponds
with 1077° on the Fahrenheit scale. See Illust. of Thermometer.
3. Fig.: The lowest point; the point of exhaustion; as, his patience had nearly reached zero.
Absolute zero. See under Absolute. — Zero method (Physics), a method of comparing, or measuring,
forces, electric currents, etc., by so opposing them that the pointer of an indicating apparatus, or the
needle of a galvanometer, remains at, or is brought to, zero, as contrasted with methods in which the
deflection is observed directly; — called also null method. — Zero point, the point indicating zero, or
the commencement of a scale or reckoning.
Zest
(Zest) n. [F. zeste, probably fr. L. schistos split, cleft, divided, Gr. from to split, cleave. Cf. Schism.]
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