igloo
or ig·lu
[ig-loo]
- an Eskimo house, being a dome-shaped hut usually built of blocks of hard snow.
- Informal. any dome-shaped construction thought to resemble an igloo: immense silos topped with steel igloos.
- Military. a dome-shaped building for the storage of rockets or other munitions.
- an excavation made by a seal in the snow over its breathing hole in the ice.
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Origin of igloo
First recorded in 1855–60, igloo is from the Inuit word iglu house
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
igloo
iglu
- a dome-shaped Inuit house, usually built of blocks of solid snow
- a hollow made by a seal in the snow over its breathing hole in the ice
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Word Origin
C19: from Inuktitut igdlu house
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for iglu
igloo
n.
1824, Canadian English, from an Eskimo word for "house, dwelling" (cf. Greenlandic igdlo "house").
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper