zones

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of zone.

   The city is split into several residential and commercial zones.

   Travelers cross multiple time zones on a long eastbound flight.

   Note

   The plural carries every sense of the singular, from the old geography to the planner's map. In the archaic scheme the earth had five: one torrid, two temperate and two frigid, divided at the tropics and the polar circles. Modern use names areas set apart by a use or restriction, such as residential and commercial, or the looser virtual kind. The same spelling also serves the verb form, so watch for a subject before it.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of zone.

   The planning department zones that stretch of land for light industry.

   Our coach zones the defense so each player covers an assigned area.

   Note

   Most of its uses take an object: a council zones land, a coach zones a defense, an authority zones something into a restricted category. The slang sense stands alone with no object, for a mind drifting into a daydream from boredom, fatigue or intoxication. It belongs to casual speech, not to a planning report. Looking for the object is the quickest way to tell the two apart.

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