floe

[ floh ]

/ floʊ /

noun

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.

Nearby words

flock paper, flockbed, flocking, flocky, flodden, floe, floeberg, flog, flokati, flong, flood

Origin of floe

1810–20; perhaps < Norwegian flo layer (compare Old Norse flō layer, level); cognate with Old English flōh piece, flagstone; cf. flaw¹

Can be confused

floe flow (see synonym study at flow)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for floes

Reaching away a mile or two to windward was a succession of floes, similar to the one on which he stood.
Adrift in the Ice-Fields|Charles W. Hall
The floes lay close together, and we could see how one floe fitted into the other.
The South Pole, Volumes 1 and 2|Roald Amundsen
If the floes continue to loosen, we may break out within the next few weeks and resume the fight.
South!|Sir Ernest Shackleton
About this time, too, we met numerous fields and floes of ice, to get through which we often experienced considerable difficulty.
Hudson Bay|R.M. Ballantyne

At least nine-tenths of the surface of the polar sea between Cape Columbia and the Pole is made up of these floes.
The North Pole|Robert E. Peary

British Dictionary definitions for floes

floe

/ (fləʊ) /

noun

See ice floe

Word Origin for floe

C19: probably from Norwegian flo slab, layer, from Old Norse; see flaw 1

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

Science definitions for floes

floe

[ flō ]

A mass or sheet of floating ice.

floe

noun

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of floe

Can be confused

Examples from the Web for floes

British Dictionary definitions for floes

floe

noun

Word Origin for floe

Science definitions for floes

floe