ice·cap

or ice cap (īs′kăp′)

An extensive dome-shaped or platelike perennial cover of ice and snow that spreads out from a center and covers a large area, especially of land or a polar region.

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.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

ice cap - a mass of ice and snow that permanently covers a large area of land (e.g., the polar regions or a mountain peak)

icecap

ice mass - a large mass of ice

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

We were above the south polar ice cap. Only at the poles of Mars is there ice or snow upon the planet.

View in context

The water which supplies the farms of Mars is collected in immense underground reservoirs at either pole from the melting ice caps, and pumped through long conduits to the various populated centers.

View in context

Summary: TEHRAN (FNA)- New research suggests liquid water is present beneath the south polar ice cap of Mars.

Underground Volcanism On Mars

In terms of its ease of access, a five hours' drive from Reykjavik, and the dramatically displayed landscape resulting from climate-induced melt and retreat of the ice cap margins and its many outlet glaciers, it is incomparable worldwide.

Vatnajokull National Park (Southern Region): Guide to a Glacial Landscape Legacy

AHUGE ice cap which covered Wales was half a mile thick, new research has found.

Wales was once covered with ice half a mile thick

His actions on the Greenland ice cap read like his whole life.''

Famed World War II rescue pilot honored by Coast Guard Academy

Lava from the fissures around Bardarbunga has so far reached the surface only on land that is not covered by ice, whereas an eruption under an ice cap may be explosive and result in an ash cloud that could under certain circumstances disrupt aviation.

Earthquake shakes Iceland volcano

We are told that the melting Arctic ice cap is causing sea levels to rise.

Much climate change theory is contradicted by other science

THE question troubling the world right now is not whether North Korea is about to drop bombs on us, or why the polar ice cap is melting faster than an ice cream on a radiator, but whether Sharon and Ozzy Osborne have split up.

No smoke without ire

The remote ice cap has only been traversed by a handful of people due to access difficulties.

CHAMPAGNE ON ICE; Irish adventurers' joy at mammoth ice cap trek