glacier

a mass of slowly moving land ice formed by the accumulation of snow on high ground

Not to be confused with:

glazier – a person who fits windows with glass or panes of glass

gla·cier

(glā′shər)

A huge mass of ice slowly flowing over a landmass, formed from compacted snow in an area where snow accumulation has exceeded melting and sublimation.

[French, from Old French, cold place, from glace, ice, from Vulgar Latin *glacia, from Latin glaciēs; see gel- in Indo-European roots.]

gla′ciered adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

glacier

(ˈɡlæsɪə; ˈɡleɪs-)

(Physical Geography) 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)

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

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

gla•cier

(ˈgleɪ ʃər)

n.

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.

[1735–45; < dial. French, derivative of Old French glace ice < Vulgar Latin *glacia]

gla′ciered, adj.

gla·cier

(glā′shər)

A large mass of ice flowing 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.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

glacier

A mass of ice that creeps down a valley, scouring its floor and sides.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

glacier - a slowly moving mass of ice

Alpine glacier, Alpine type of glacier - a glacier that moves down from a high valley

continental glacier - a glacier that spreads out from a central mass of ice

icefall - a steep part of a glacier resembling a frozen waterfall

ice mass - a large mass of ice

moraine - accumulated earth and stones deposited by a glacier

Piedmont glacier, Piedmont type of glacier - a type of glaciation characteristic of Alaska; large valley glaciers meet to form an almost stagnant sheet of ice

ice, water ice - water frozen in the solid state; "Americans like ice in their drinks"

Translations

كُتلة جليديَّهنَهْرٌ جَليدِيّ

ledovec

gletschergletsjerjøkelbræ

Gletscher Kees Ferner

παγετώνας

glaciar

liustik

jäätikkö

glacier

ledenjakglečer

gleccser

jökull

ghiacciaio glaciale glaciazione

氷河

빙하

ledynas

šļūdonis

ledenik

glaciär

ธารน้ำแข็ง

buzul

khối băng trôi

冰川冰河

glacier

[ˈglæsɪəʳ] N → glaciar m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

glacier

[ˈglæsiə^r ˈgleɪsiə^r] n → glacier m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

glacier

n → Gletscher m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

glacier

[ˈglæsɪəʳ] n → ghiacciaio

glacier

(ˈglӕsiə) , ((American) ˈgleiʃər) noun

a mass of ice, formed from the snow on mountains.

glacier

→ نَهْرٌ جَليدِيّ ledovec gletscher Gletscher παγετώνας glaciar jäätikkö glacier ledenjak ghiacciaio 氷河 빙하 gletsjer isbre lodowiec geleira, glaciar ледник glaciär ธารน้ำแข็ง buzul khối băng trôi 冰河

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

I stood beside the sources of the Arveiron, which take their rise in a glacier, that with slow pace is advancing down from the summit of the hills to barricade the valley.

I remembered the effect that the view of the tremendous and ever-moving glacier had produced upon my mind when I first saw it.

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In the fire-side narrative of Captain Sleet, entitled A Voyage among the Icebergs, in quest of the Greenland Whale, and incidentally for the re-discovery of the Lost Icelandic Colonies of Old Greenland; in this admirable volume, all standers of mast-heads are furnished with a charmingly circumstantial account of the then recently invented crow's-nest of the Glacier, which was the name of Captain Sleet's good craft.

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Farther up we were as-sailed by enormous white bears--hungry, devilish fellows, who came roaring across the rough glacier tops at the first glimpse of us, or stalked us stealthily by scent when they had not yet seen us.

We should freeze to death among the snows and glaciers long before we had discovered a pass to the opposite side."

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Close by the Lion of Lucerne is what they call the "Glacier Garden"--and it is the only one in the world.

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That he had in youth the feelings of a poet I believe-for there are glimpses of extreme delicacy in his writings-(and delicacy is the poet's own kingdom-his El Dorado)-but they have the appearance of a better day recollected; and glimpses, at best, are little evidence of present poetic fire; we know that a few straggling flowers spring up daily in the crevices of the glacier.

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So greatly has the climate of Europe changed, that in Northern Italy, gigantic moraines, left by old glaciers, are now clothed by the vine and maize.

Along the Himalaya, at points 900 miles apart, glaciers have left the marks of their former low descent; and in Sikkim, Dr.

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In many parts, magnificent glaciers extend from the mountain side to the water's edge.

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On the Exchange there were hurricanes and landslides and snowstorms and glaciers and volcanoes, and those elemental disturbances were reproduced in miniature in the broker's offices.

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She always, indeed, struck Newland Archer as having been rather gruesomely preserved in the airless atmosphere of a perfectly irreproachable existence, as bodies caught in glaciers keep for years a rosy life-in-death.

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