glacial epoch

[ gley-shuhl ep-uhkor, especially British, ee-pok ]

noun

1. Also called glacial period, the geologically recent Pleistocene Epoch, during which much of the Northern Hemisphere was covered by great ice sheets.
2. any one of the Permian, Carboniferous, Cambrian, or Precambrian glaciations.

Word History and Origins

Origin of glacial epoch¹

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

Science teaches that man existed during the glacial epoch, which was at least fifty thousand years before the Christian era.

From Project Gutenberg

This chart represents the part marked Glacial Epoch in Fig. 24, with which it should be compared.

From Project Gutenberg

Was its bed, sea or dry land, or under an ice sheet, during the long ages of the glacial epoch?

From Project Gutenberg

The collapse of the bridge at the close of the Glacial Epoch left the Atlantic abyss effectually dividing the two hemispheres.

From Project Gutenberg

Post-glacial Epoch, in which man lived cotemporaneously with the mammoth and reindeer (Cervus tarandus).

From Project Gutenberg