GLACIER DEFINITIONS - 12 definitions found
glacier n 1: a slowly moving mass of ice glacier gracile Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003) glacier noun Etymology: French, from Middle French dialect (Franco-Provençal), from glace ice, from Latin glacies; akin to Latin gelu frost — more at cold Date: 1744 a large body of ice moving slowly down a slope or valley or spreading outward on a land surface Oxford English Reference Dictionary
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner\'s English Dictionary glacier (glaciers) A glacier is an extremely large mass of ice which moves very slowly, often down a mountain valley. N-COUNT English Explanatory Dictionary glacier ˈɡlæsjə n. a mass of land ice formed by the accumulation of snow on high ground. [F f. glace ice ult. f. L glacies] The Nuttall Encyclopaedia (1907) Glacier a more or less snow-white mass of ice occupying an Alpine valley and moving slowly down its bed like a viscous substance, being fed by semi-melted snow at the top called nevé and forming streams at the bottom; it has been defined by Prof. J. D. Forbes (q. v.) as "a viscous body which is urged down slopes of a certain inclination by the mutual pressure of its parts"; in the Alps alone they number over 1000, have an utmost depth of 1500 ft., and an utmost length of 12 m. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Glacier \Gla"cier\, n. [F. glacier, fr. glace ice, L. glacies.] An immense field or stream of ice, formed in the region of perpetual snow, and moving slowly down a mountain slope or valley, as in the Alps, or over an extended area, as in Greenland. Note: The mass of compacted snow forming the upper part of a glacier is called the firn, or n['e]v['e]; the glacier proper consist of solid ice, deeply crevassed where broken up by irregularities in the slope or direction of its path. A glacier usually carries with it accumulations of stones and dirt called moraines, which are designated, according to their position, as lateral, medial, or terminal (see Moraine). The common rate of flow of the Alpine glaciers is from ten to twenty inches per day in summer, and about half that in winter. Glacier theory (Geol.), the theory that large parts of the frigid and temperate zones were covered with ice during the glacial, or ice, period, and that, by the agency of this ice, the loose materials on the earth's surface, called drift or diluvium, were transported and accumulated. Glacier, WA Zip code(s): 98244 Soule\'s Dictionary of English Synonyms glacier n. Ice-torrent, ice-stream. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 48 Moby Thesaurus words for "glacier": Dry Ice, berg, calf, cryosphere, firn, floe, frazil, frozen water, glaciation, glacieret, glaze, glazed frost, granular snow, ground ice, growler, ice, ice banner, ice barrier, ice belt, ice cave, ice cubes, ice dike, ice field, ice floe, ice foot, ice front, ice island, ice needle, ice pack, ice pinnacle, ice raft, ice sheet, iceberg, icefall, icequake, icicle, jokul, lolly, neve, nieve penitente, pack ice, serac, shelf ice, sleet, slob, sludge, snow ice, snowberg |
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