Adjacent Words

moraine definitions

	Tweet

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: accumulated earth and stones deposited by a glacier

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: French, from French dialect (Savoy) morêna Date: 1789 an accumulation of earth and stones carried and finally deposited by a glacier • morainal adjective • morainic adjective

Britannica Concise

Accumulation of rock debris (till) carried or deposited by a glacier. The material may range in size from blocks or boulders to sand and clay, is unstratified when dropped by the glacier, and shows no sorting or bedding. Several kinds of moraines are recognized, depending on how they are deposited by the glacier; these include lateral moraines along the margins of the glacier and terminal moraines at its leading edge.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. an area covered by rocks and debris carried down and deposited by a glacier. Derivatives: morainal adj. morainic adj. Etymology: F f. It. dial. morena f. F dial. mor(re) snout f. Rmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Moraine Mo*raine", n. [F. Cf. Prov. G. mur stones broken off, It. mora a heap of stones, hillock, G. m["u]rbe soft, broken up, OHG. muruwi, AS. mearu tender, Gr. ? to cause to wither, Skr. ml[=a] to relax.] (Geol.) An accumulation of earth and stones carried forward and deposited by a glacier. --Lyell. Note: If the moranie is at the extremity of the glacier it is a terminal moranie; if at the side, a lateral moranie; if parallel to the side on the central portion of the glacier, a medial moranie. See Illust. of Glacier. In the last case it is formed by the union of the lateral moranies of the branches of the glacier. A ground moranie is one beneath the mass of ice.