icicle

[ahy-si-kuh l]

See more synonyms for icicle on Thesaurus.com

noun

a pendent, tapering mass of ice formed by the freezing of dripping water.
a thin strip of paper, plastic, or foil, usually silvery, for hanging on a Christmas tree as decoration.
a cold, unemotional person.

Origin of icicle

before 1000; Middle English isikel, Old English īsgicel, equivalent to īs ice + gicel icicle; akin to Old Norse jǫkul mass of ice, glacier

Related formsi·ci·cled, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for icicle

chunk, glaze, hail, crystal, iceberg, icicle, glacier, sleet, diamonds, hailstone, permafrost, floe

Examples from the Web for icicle

Contemporary Examples of icicle

Is stabbing someone with an icicle really the perfect crime?
So You Are Enduring a Temporarily Paralyzing Winter Storm
Kelly Williams Brown
February 15, 2014
The coldness of his body through the bag jolts me like an icicle through my heart.
Inside a Home Funeral
Melissa Roberts Weidman
February 5, 2013

Historical Examples of icicle

An icicle hanging on one's nose is a simple sort of humour in any case.
Alarms and Discursions
G. K. Chesterton
I have seen a great army thaw away like an icicle in the sunshine.
Micah Clarke
Arthur Conan Doyle
Jed was conscious of a cold sensation, like the touch of an icicle, up and down his spine.
Shavings
Joseph C. Lincoln
Thou art hot-tempered and boyish, but I am cold as an icicle.
In the Days of Drake
J. S. Fletcher
He doesn't say for how long, and acts the icicle in the presence of others.
Secret Memoirs: The Story of Louise, Crown Princess
Henry W. Fischer

British Dictionary definitions for icicle

icicle

noun

a hanging spike of ice formed by the freezing of dripping water

Derived Formsicicled, adjective

Word Origin for icicle

C14: from ice + ickel, from Old English gicel icicle, related to Old Norse jökull large piece of ice, glacier

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 icicle

early 14c., isykle, from is "ice" + ikel "icicle," from Old English gicel "icicle, ice" (rel. to cylegicel "cold ice"), from Proto-Germanic *jekilaz (cf. Old Norse jaki "piece of ice," diminutive jökull "icicle, ice, glacier;" Old High German ihilla "icicle"), from PIE *yeg- "ice." Dialectal ickle "icicle" survived into 20c.