From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Zero \Ze"ro\, noun; 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.
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