Adjacent Words

ice age definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: any period of time during which glaciers covered a large part of the earth's surface; "the most recent ice age was during the Pleistocene" [syn: ice age, glacial period, glacial epoch]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1855 1. a time of widespread glaciation 2. capitalized I&A the Pleistocene glacial epoch

NOAA Weather Glossary

Periods in the history of the earth characterized by a growth ofthe ice caps towards the equator and a general lowering of global surface temperatures,especially in temperate mid-latitudes. The most recent ice age ended about 10,000 yearsago. Ice advances in this period are known to have altered the whole pattern of globalatmospheric circulation.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Ice Ice ([imac]s), n. [OE. is, iis, AS. [=i]s; aksin to D. ijs, G. eis, OHG. [=i]s, Icel. [=i]ss, Sw. is, Dan. iis, and perh. to E. iron.] 1. Water or other fluid frozen or reduced to the solid state by cold; frozen water. It is a white or transparent colorless substance, crystalline, brittle, and viscoidal. Its specific gravity (0.92, that of water at 4[deg] C. being 1.0) being less than that of water, ice floats. Note: Water freezes at 32[deg] F. or 0[deg] Cent., and ice melts at the same temperature. Ice owes its cooling properties to the large amount of heat required to melt it. 2. Concreted sugar. --Johnson. 3. Water, cream, custard, etc., sweetened, flavored, and artificially frozen. 4. Any substance having the appearance of ice; as, camphor ice. Anchor ice, ice which sometimes forms about stones and other objects at the bottom of running or other water, and is thus attached or anchored to the ground. Bay ice, ice formed in bays, fiords, etc., often in extensive fields which drift out to sea. Ground ice, anchor ice. Ice age (Geol.), the glacial epoch or period. See under Glacial. Ice anchor (Naut.), a grapnel for mooring a vessel to a field of ice. --Kane. Ice blink [Dan. iisblink], a streak of whiteness of the horizon, caused by the reflection of light from ice not yet in sight. Ice boat. (a) A boat fitted with skates or runners, and propelled on ice by sails; an ice yacht. (b) A strong steamboat for breaking a channel through ice. Ice box or chest, a box for holding ice; a box in which things are kept cool by means of ice; a refrigerator. Ice brook, a brook or stream as cold as ice. [Poetic] --Shak. Ice cream [for iced cream], cream, milk, or custard, sweetened, flavored, and frozen. Ice field, an extensive sheet of ice. Ice float, Ice floe, a sheet of floating ice similar to an ice field, but smaller. Ice foot, shore ice in Arctic regions; an ice belt. --Kane. Ice house, a close-covered pit or building for storing ice. Ice machine (Physics), a machine for making ice artificially, as by the production of a low temperature through the sudden expansion of a gas or vapor, or the rapid evaporation of a volatile liquid. Ice master. See Ice pilot (below). Ice pack, an irregular mass of broken and drifting ice. Ice paper, a transparent film of gelatin for copying or reproducing; papier glac['e]. Ice petrel (Zo["o]l.), a shearwater (Puffinus gelidus) of the Antarctic seas, abundant among floating ice. Ice pick, a sharp instrument for breaking ice into small pieces. Ice pilot, a pilot who has charge of a vessel where the course is obstructed by ice, as in polar seas; -- called also ice master. Ice pitcher, a pitcher adapted for ice water. Ice plow, a large tool for grooving and cutting ice.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

The Ice Age was a period of time lasting many thousands of years, during which a lot of the earth's surface was covered with ice. N-PROPER: the N