igloo

[ ig-loo ]

noun,plural ig·loos.
  1. an Inuit house, being a dome-shaped hut usually built of blocks of hard snow.

  2. Informal. any dome-shaped construction thought to resemble an igloo: immense silos topped with steel igloos.

  1. Military. a dome-shaped building for the storage of rockets or other munitions.

  2. an excavation made by a seal in the snow over its breathing hole in the ice.

Origin of igloo

1
First recorded in 1855–60, igloo is from the Inuit word iglu “house”
  • Sometimes ig·lu .

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use igloo in a sentence

  • The track led them on for a mile or so, and then they heard a dog's howl and a moment later came out upon two snow igloos.

    Ungava Bob | Dillon Wallace
  • Orders were given to camp, and while the igloos were being built, Marvin and MacMillan took soundings.

  • The Commander went into the igloo, and we made the dogs fast and built our own igloos, made our tea and went to sleep.

  • Leaving the Commander and Marvin at the igloos, my party took up the Captain's trail northward.

  • We staggered into camp like drunken men, and built our igloos by force of habit rather than with the intelligence of human beings.

British Dictionary definitions for igloo

igloo

iglu

/ (ˈɪɡluː) /


nounplural -loos or -lus
  1. a dome-shaped Inuit house, usually built of blocks of solid snow

  2. a hollow made by a seal in the snow over its breathing hole in the ice

Origin of igloo

1
C19: from Inuktitut igdlu house

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