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névé

American  
[nay-vay] / neɪˈveɪ /

noun

  1. granular snow accumulated on high mountains and subsequently compacted into glacial ice.

  2. a field of such snow.


névé British  
/ ˈnɛveɪ /

noun

  1. Also called: firn. a mass of porous ice, formed from snow, that has not yet become frozen into glacier ice

  2. a snowfield at the head of a glacier that becomes transformed into 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

névé Scientific  
/ nā-vā′ /
  1. The upper part of a glacier, consisting of hardened snow.

  2. The granular snow typically found in such a field.


Etymology

Origin of névé

1850–55; < Franco-Provençal < Vulgar Latin *nivātum, noun use of neuter of Latin nivātus snow-cooled, equivalent to niv- (stem of nix snow ) + -ātus -ate 1


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

In an ordinary Alpine region the névé districts, where the snow gathers, are relatively small.

From Outlines of the Earth's History A Popular Study in Physiography by Nathaniel Southgate Shaler

The last mile, névé predominating and therefore the pulling a trifle harder, we have risen into the upper basin of the glacier.

From Scott's Last Expedition Volume I by Robert Falcon Scott

The Glacier Tongue comes close around a high bluff headland of kenyte; it is much cracked and curiously composed of a broad wedge of white névé over blue ice.

From Scott's Last Expedition Volume I by Robert Falcon Scott

At the lunch camp the snow covering was less than a foot, and at this it is a bare nine inches; patches of ice and hard névé are showing through in places.

From Scott's Last Expedition Volume I by Robert Falcon Scott

Christmas Day, however, brought more trouble from crevasses—'very hard, smooth névé between high ridges at the edge of crevasses, and therefore very difficult to get foothold to pull the sledges.'

From The Voyages of Captain Scott : Retold from the Voyage of the Discovery and Scott's Last Expedition by Charles Turley

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