glacier

[ gley-sher ]

noun

1. an extended mass of ice formed from snow falling and accumulating over the years and moving very slowly, either descending from high mountains, as in valley glaciers, or moving outward from centers of accumulation, as in continental glaciers.

glacier

/ ˈɡleɪs-; ˈɡlæsɪə /

noun

1. a slowly moving mass of ice originating from an accumulation of snow. It can either spread out from a central mass ( continental glacier ) or descend from a high valley ( alpine glacier )

glacier

/ glā′shər /

1. A large mass of ice moving very slowly through a valley or spreading outward from a center. Glaciers form over many years from packed snow in areas where snow accumulates faster than it melts. A glacier is always moving, but when its forward edge melts faster than the ice behind it advances, the glacier as a whole shrinks backward.

glacier

1. A large mass of ice formed over many years that does not melt during the summer. Glaciers move slowly over an area of land such as a mountain valley.

Notes

A significant percentage of the water of the Earth is locked up in glaciers.

Glaciers exist in high mountains throughout the temperate zones and cover most of Antarctica . Glaciers recede during warm periods and can expand during cold periods, creating ice ages .

Other Words From

• glaciered adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of glacier¹

1735–45; < dialectal French, derivative of Old French glace ice < Late Latin glacia (for Latin glaciēs )

Word History and Origins

Origin of glacier¹

C18: from French (Savoy dialect), from Old French glace ice, from Late Latin glacia, from Latin glaciēs ice

Example Sentences

From January to March 2019 researchers used a variety of airborne and ship-based methods — including radar, sonar and gravity measurements — to examine the seafloor around the glacier and two neighboring ice shelves.

From Science News

The channels are deeper and more complex than previously thought, and may be funneling warm ocean water all the way to the underside of the glacier, melting it from below, the researchers found.

From Science News

They do, however, welcome visitors to their wild Arctic frontier, marked by 11,000-foot peaks, polar bears, and Jakobshavn, the planet’s fastest-moving glacier.

From Outside Online

These are the shadows of mountains on Pluto—craggy peaks that are composed of deep-frozen water ice and capped with nitrogen glaciers.

From Nautilus

Joe Levy, a geologist at Colgate University who wasn’t involved with the study, thinks the glacier research is thought provoking, but does point out it “struggles to pin down a single process that is responsible for forming each valley.”

From MIT Technology Review

After 50 years, members of the Huna Tlingit people can finally collect harvest sea gull eggs again in Glacier National Park.

From The Daily Beast

Peacock served as an expert witness on grizzlies in federal court for Glacier National Park.

From The Daily Beast

“The first time I saw Glacier National Park, it was the magical fantasy land I had always been dreaming about,” says Chin.

From The Daily Beast

The highest density of wolverines left south of Canada is in Glacier National Park.

From The Daily Beast

A lieutenant commander in the Navy, he was knock-out handsome with a smile that would melt a glacier.

From The Daily Beast

The effect of the intense ice action above noted is rapidly to wear away the rocks of the valley in which the glacier is situated.

From Project Gutenberg

A trace of this colour is often visible even in the surface snow on the glacier, and sometimes also in our ordinary winter fields.

From Project Gutenberg

Model a river valley whose upper part is filled with a glacier.

From Project Gutenberg

He will foller ye right up the side of a glacier, but he ain't mentally constructed to take the lead.

From Project Gutenberg

The mighty glacier seemed like a great river frozen into ice, hemmed in by the steep rocks.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• ice floe
• iceberg