English▸ verb
1 [no object, with adverbial of direction] move or travel very quickly:
he jumped into his car and zoomed off
bikes zoomed past
we watched the fly zooming around.
▪ [no object] (of a figure or level) rise sharply:
the share index zoomed by about 136 points
TV ratings will zoom
the value of these stocks is zooming.
2 [no object, with adverbial of direction] (of a camera or user) change smoothly from a long shot to a close-up or vice versa:
the camera zoomed in for a close-up of his face
zoom out for a wide view of the garden again
during filming it is possible to zoom.
▪ enlarge or decrease the size of part of an electronic image on a screen:
you can enlarge a region of the screen by zooming in
viewers can zoom in on any part of the image they want to see better
we can zoom out to view the entire slide.
▪ [with object] cause (a lens or camera) to zoom in or out.
▸ noun a camera shot that changes smoothly from a long shot to a close-up or vice versa.
▪ short for zoom lens
– ORIGIN late 19th century: imitative.