Hypertext Webster Gateway: "zero"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Zero \Ze"ro\, n.; pl. {Zeros}or {Zeroes}. [F. z['e]ro, from Ar.
[,c]afrun, [,c]ifrun, 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.
Note: Zero in the Centigrade, or Celsius thermometer, and in
the R['e]aumur 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[deg] 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.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
zero
adj 1: indicating the absence of any or all units under
consideration; "a zero score" [syn: {0}]
2: having no measurable or otherwise determinable value; "the
goal is zero population growth" [syn: {zero(a)}]
3: indicating an initial point or origin
4: of or relating to the null set (a set with no members)
n 1: a quantity of no importance; "it looked like nothing I had
ever seen before"; "reduced to nil all the work we had
done"; "we racked up a pathetic goose egg"; "it was all
for naught"; "I didn't hear zilch about it" [syn: {nothing},
{nil}, {nix}, {nada}, {null}, {aught}, {cipher}, {cypher},
{goose egg}, {naught}, {zilch}, {zip}]
2: a mathematical element that when added to another number
yields the same number [syn: {0}, {nought}, {cipher}, {cypher}]
3: the quantity that registers a reading of zero on a scale
[syn: {zero point}]
v 1: to adjust to zero value, of an instrument or device
2: adjust (as by firing under test conditions) the zero of (a
gun); "He zeroed in his rifle at 200 yards" [syn: {zero in}]
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