floe
Americannoun
-
Also called ice floe. a sheet of floating ice, chiefly on the surface of the sea, smaller than an ice field.
-
a detached floating portion of such a sheet.
noun
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Etymology
Origin of floe
First recorded in 1810–20; perhaps from Norwegian flo “layer” (compare Old Norse flō “layer, level”); cognate with Old English flōh “piece, flagstone”; flaw 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It's home to ice floes, glaciers and more polar bears than people.
From BBC
Ms Homendy said recovery workers were dealing with deteriorating weather conditions and that the wreckage had landed on an ice floe which is moving at a rate of five miles a day.
From BBC
County Museum of Natural History diorama of a simple red room wedged between a taxidermied wolf pack in the mountains on one side and polar bears on ice floes on the other.
From Los Angeles Times
Polar bears are used to an ice-free season of about four months when they rely on fat reserves until ice reforms and they can hunt blubber-rich seals from the floes.
From New York Times
The sinking of the Endurance, months after the ship became trapped in ice, stranded Shackleton and 27 crew members on ice floes and dashed their hopes of becoming the first to cross Antarctica on foot.
From New York Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
