late 14c., from Latin zona "geographical belt, celestial zone," from Greek zone "a belt," related to zonnynai "to gird," from PIE root *yes- "to gird, girdle" (cf. Avestan yasta- "girt," Lithuanian juosiu "to gird," Old Church Slavonic po-jasu "girdle").
Originally one of the five great divisions of the earth's surface (torrid, temperate, frigid; separated by tropics of Cancer and Capricorn and Arctic and Antarctic circles); meaning "any discrete region" is first recorded 1822. Zone defense in team sports is recorded from 1927. Zoning "land-use planning" is recorded from 1912. Zoned (adj.) in drug-use sense is attested 1960s, from ozone, which is found high in the atmosphere; the related verb to zone is from 1980s.
zone (zōn)
n.
An area or a region distinguished from adjacent parts by a distinctive feature or characteristic.
See zona.
A segment.
A psychedelic condition, usually due to drugs: He wasn't making much sense because he was way up there in a zone
[1960s+ College students; fr the notion of being as high as the ozone layer of the atmosphere]
[origin uncertain; perhaps fr an African word akin to nzambi, ''god''; perhaps fr Louisiana Creole, ''phantom, ghost,'' fr Spanish sombra, ''shade, ghost''; popularized by horror stories and movies featuring the walking dead persons of voodoo belief]
To make someone stuporous like a zombie: The medication I received for a couple of years ''zombied me out'' so bad I couldn't work (1980s+)