zone

1. (geography, now rare) Each of the five regions of the earth's surface into which it was divided by climatic differences, namely the torrid zone (between the tropics), two temperate zones (between the tropics and the polar circles), and two frigid zones (within the polar circles).Examples: "And as two Zones doe cut the Heaven upon the righter side, / And other twaine upon the left likewise the same devide, / The middle in outragious heat exceeding all the rest: / Even so likewise through great foresight to God it seemed best, / The earth encluded in the same should so devided bee […]."; "To avoid which, we will take any pains […]; we will dive to the bottom of the sea, to the bowels of the earth, five, six, seven, eight, nine hundred fathom deep, through all five zones, and both extremes of heat and cold […]."; "And while idle curiosity may take its walk in shady avenues by the ocean side, commerce[…]defies every wind, outrides every tempest, and invades every zone."archaic

2. (by extension) A restricted category or virtual place.Examples: "The discussion was veering off into a danger zone."broadly

3. (crystallography) A series of planes having mutually parallel intersections.

4. (baseball, informal) The strike zone.Examples: "That pitch was low and away, just outside the zone."informal

5. (ice hockey) Every of the three parts of an ice rink, divided by two blue lines.Examples: "Players are off side, if they enter the attacking zone before the puck."

6. (handball) A semicircular area in front of each goal.Examples: "The defender playing at the top of the zone is nine to fourteen metres out from the goal line."Synonyms: crease