sérac

or se·rac

[ si-rak; French sey-rak ]

noun,plural sé·racs [si-raks; French sey-rak]. /sɪˈræks; French seɪˈrak/.
  1. a large irregularity of glacial ice, as a pinnacle found in glacial crevasses and formed by melting or movement of the ice.

Origin of sérac

1
1855–60; <French sérac kind of white cheese (compare Medieval Latin serācium), ultimately <Latin serum whey

Words Nearby sérac

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use sérac in a sentence

  • For many hours a way was won through a mighty turmoil of serac and over innumerable crevasses with varied fortune.

    The Home of the Blizzard | Douglas Mawson
  • Pressing northward it was torn into the jumbled crush of serac-ice, sparkling beneath an unclouded sun.

    The Home of the Blizzard | Douglas Mawson
  • Retracing the way out of the broken ice, we steered in a south-westerly direction, just above the line of serac and crevassed ice.

    The Home of the Blizzard | Douglas Mawson
  • Whether a stone underfoot gave way, or whether the Admiral's voice brought down a serac of rotten wall, is not clear.

    The Astonishing History of Troy Town | Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
  • The region was one of serac where the glacier was puckered up, folded and crushed.

    The Home of the Blizzard | Douglas Mawson

British Dictionary definitions for sérac

sérac

/ (ˈsɛræk) /


noun
  1. a pinnacle of ice among crevasses on a glacier, usually on a steep slope

Origin of sérac

1
C19: from Swiss French: a variety of white cheese (hence the ice that it resembles) from Medieval Latin serācium, from Latin serum whey

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012