glacier
[gley-sher]
- an extended mass of ice formed from snow falling and accumulating over the years and moving very slowly, either descending from high mountains, as in valley glaciers, or moving outward from centers of accumulation, as in continental glaciers.
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Origin of glacier
1735–45; < dialectal French, derivative of Old French glace ice < Late Latin glacia (for Latin glaciēs)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for glacier
Contemporary Examples
After 50 years, members of the Huna Tlingit people can finally collect harvest sea gull eggs again in Glacier National Park.
Nazis, Sunscreen, and Sea Gull Eggs: Congress in 2014 Was Hella ProductiveBen Jacobs
December 29, 2014
Peacock served as an expert witness on grizzlies in federal court for Glacier National Park.
The highest density of wolverines left south of Canada is in Glacier National Park.
A lieutenant commander in the Navy, he was knock-out handsome with a smile that would melt a glacier.
Bridges and Greenwalt somehow convinced Geston to drive with them to Glacier Park.
Historical Examples
To me the most surprising was the Ice-Festival on the great skating-pool on the Kenia glacier.
FreelandTheodor Hertzka
Lavinia was a glacier, moving majestically and freezing as it moved.
Keziah CoffinJoseph C. Lincoln
And see the glisten of that glacier in the haze, like a star in the veil of a bride!
The Trimming of GoosieJames Hopper
When we had rounded this point we came face to face with a glacier.
Over the Rocky Mountains to AlaskaCharles Warren Stoddard
"If we leave here the glacier will cover the caves and fill them with ice," he said.
Space PrisonTom Godwin
glacier
- a slowly moving mass of ice originating from an accumulation of snow. It can either spread out from a central mass (continental glacier) or descend from a high valley (alpine glacier)
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Word Origin
C18: from French (Savoy dialect), from Old French glace ice, from Late Latin glacia, from Latin glaciēs ice
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
Word Origin and History for glacier
n.
1744, from French glacier, from Savoy dialect glacière "moving mass of ice," from Old French glace "ice," from Vulgar Latin glacia (cf. Old Provençal glassa, Italian ghiaccia), from Latin glacies (see glacial).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
glacier
[glā′shər]
- A large mass of ice moving very slowly through a valley or spreading outward from a center. Glaciers form over many years from packed snow in areas where snow accumulates faster than it melts. A glacier is always moving, but when its forward edge melts faster than the ice behind it advances, the glacier as a whole shrinks backward.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
glacier
A large mass of ice formed over many years that does not melt during the summer. Glaciers move slowly over an area of land such as a mountain valley.
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Note
Glaciers exist in high mountains throughout the temperate zones and cover most of Antarctica. Glaciers recede during warm periods and can expand during cold periods, creating ice ages.
Note
A significant percentage of the water of the Earth is locked up in glaciers.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.