nunatak

[ nuhn-uh-tak ]

/ ˈnʌn əˌtæk /

noun

a hill or mountain that has been completely encircled by a glacier.

Nearby words

nun buoy, nun river, nun's cloth, nun's fiddle, nun's veiling, nunatak, nunation, nunavut, nunc, nunc dimittis, nunchaku

Origin of nunatak

1875–80; < Inuit (West Greenlandic) nunataq

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for nunatak

We very soon put our things together, and came down the nunatak even more quickly.
The South Pole, Volumes 1 and 2|Roald Amundsen
Later I climbed the large Nunatak Island, seven thousand feet high, near the west margin of the glacier.
Travels in Alaska|John Muir
The second nunatak was on the course; a sharp peak in the south, hidden by the contour of the uprising ridges.
The Home of the Blizzard|Douglas Mawson
The schistose rocks from Scott's Nunatak are streaked, and, in part, very fine-grained quartz diorite schists.
The South Pole, Volumes 1 and 2|Roald Amundsen

One of us, in any case, found immense enjoyment in rolling one big block after another down the steep slopes of the nunatak.
The South Pole, Volumes 1 and 2|Roald Amundsen

British Dictionary definitions for nunatak

nunatak

/ (ˈnʌnəˌtæk) /

noun

an isolated mountain peak projecting through the surface of surrounding glacial ice and supporting a distinct fauna and flora after recession of the ice

Word Origin for nunatak

C19: via Danish from Inuktitut

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