Etymology

Cardinal number

1. The cardinal number occurring before one and that denotes no quantity or amount at all, represented in Arabic numerals as 0.

   The conductor waited until the passenger count was zero.

   A cheque for zero dollars and zero cents crashed the computers on division by zero.

Usage notes

• In an adjectival sense, used with the plural of a countable noun:

  I have zero dollars and zero food.

Synonyms

• 0, aught, cipher, goose egg, naught, nil, no, null

Noun

1. The numeric symbol that represents the cardinal number zero.

   In unary and k-adic notation in general, zero is the empty string.

   Write 0.0 to indicate a floating point rather than the integer zero.

   The zero sign in American Sign Language is considered rude in some cultures.

2. The digit 0 in the decimal, binary, and all other base numbering systems.

   One million has six zeros.

3. Nothing, or none.

   The shipment was lost, so they had zero in stock.

   He knows zero about humor.

   In the end, all our hard work amounted to zero.

4. The value of a magnitude corresponding to the cardinal number zero.

   The electromagnetic field does not drop all the way to zero before a reversal.

5. The point on a scale at which numbering or measurement originates.

   The temperature outside is ten degrees below zero.

6. A value of the independent variables of a function, for which the function is equal to zero.

   The zeros of a polynomial are its roots by the fundamental theorem of algebra.

   The derivative of a continuous, differentiable function that twice crosses the axis must have a zero.

   The nontrivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function may all lie on the critical line.

7. The additive identity element of a monoid or greater algebraic structure, particularly a group or ring.

   Since a commutative zero is the inverse of any additive identity, it must be unique when it exists.

   The quotient ring over a maximal ideal is a field with a single zero element.

8. A person of little or no importance.

   They rudely treated him like a zero.

9. A plane flown by a Japanese kamikaze in WWII.
10. A setting of calibrated instruments such as a firearm.
11. A security which has a zero coupon (paying no periodic interest).

    The takeovers were financed by issuing zeros.

Synonyms

• (value of a function’s variables at zero): root additive identity

1. She showed zero respect.

2. Of a cloud ceiling, limiting vision to 50 feet (15 meters) or less.
3. Of horizontal visibility, limited to 165 feet (50.3 meters) or less.
4. Present at an abstract level, but not realized in the data.

   The stem of "kobieta" with the zero ending is "kobiet".

1. To set a measuring instrument to zero; to calibrate instrument scale to valid zero.

   Zero the fluorometer with the same solvent used in extraction.

2. To change a memory location or range to values of zero; to set a variable in a computer program to zero.

   Results were inconsistent because an array wasn’t zeroed during initialization.

3. To cause or set some value or amount to be zero.

   They tried to zero the budget by the end of the quarter.

4. To eliminate; to delete; to overwrite with zeros.
   • 2001, Mark Pesce, "True Magic", in True Names by Vernor Vinge and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier, James Frenkel (editor)

     They discovered the object code for the simulator that was DON, and zeroed it. DON — or his creator — was clever and had planted many copies,

   • 2004, Anna Maxted, Being Committed, page 358

     If I zeroed Jack, I'd get by So I'd erased him, pretended the last few months had never happened.

5. To disappear
   • 1997, Tom Clancy, Executive Orders, page 340

     Traffic on the encrypted channels used by senior Iraqi generals had peaked and zeroed, then peaked again, and zeroed again.

Etymology

Cardinal number

1. zero
2. zero; origin point of a scale