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drift ice

noun
  1. detached floating ice in masses that drift with the wind or ocean currents, as in the polar seas.
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Origin of drift ice

First recorded in 1590–1600
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for drift ice

Historical Examples

  • And the drift-ice may be widening, but I refuse to give up my hope of hope.

    The Prairie Child

    Arthur Stringer

  • It is remarkable that there should be so many foxes on this drift-ice so far from land.

    Farthest North

    Fridtjof Nansen

  • Yet we dared not think our life on the drift-ice was so nearly at an end.

    Farthest North

    Fridtjof Nansen

  • Fog and rain and drift-ice were to be met on the grounds of Candlestick Cove.

  • The Antarctic or Arctic pack usually has a girdle or fringe of drift-ice.

    South!

    Sir Ernest Shackleton

British Dictionary definitions for drift ice

drift ice

noun
  1. masses of ice floating in the open sea
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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