Glacier - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

gla·cier

Audio Help [gley-sher] Pronunciation Key

–noun

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.

[Origin: 1735–45; < dial. F, deriv. of OF glace ice < LL glacia (for L glaciés)

]

—Related forms

glaciered, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Glacier

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

gla·cier Audio Help (glā'shər) Pronunciation Key
n. A huge mass of ice slowly flowing over a land mass, formed from compacted snow in an area where snow accumulation exceeds 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.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
glacier

1744, from Fr. glacier, from Savoy dialect glacière "moving mass of ice," from O.Fr. glace "ice," from L. glacies (see glacial).

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

glacier
noun
a slowly moving mass of ice

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
glacier [ˈglӕsiə, (American) ˈgleiʃər] noun

a mass of ice, formed from the snow on mountains

Arabic:	كُتلة جليديَّه
Chinese (Simplified):	冰川
Chinese (Traditional):	冰川
Czech:	ledovec
Danish:	gletscher
Dutch:	gletsjer
Estonian:	jääliustik
Finnish:	jäätikkö
French:	glacier
German:	der Gletscher
Greek:	παγετώνας
Hungarian:	gleccser
Icelandic:	(skrið)jökull
Indonesian:	sungai es
Italian:	ghiacciaio

Japanese:	氷河
Korean:	빙하
Latvian:	šļūdonis
Lithuanian:	ledynas
Norwegian:	isbre
Polish:	lodowiec
Portuguese (Brazil):	geleira
Portuguese (Portugal):	glaciar
Romanian:	gheţar
Russian:	ледник, глетчер
Slovak:	ľadovec
Slovenian:	ledenik
Spanish:	glaciar
Swedish:	glaciär, jökel
Turkish:	buzul

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

glacier Audio Help (glā'shər) Pronunciation Key
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.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
glacier

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.

Note: 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.

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

[Chapter:] Earth Sciences

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

U.S. Gazetteer - Cite This Source - Share This

Glacier County, MT (county, FIPS 35) Location: 48.70010 N, 113.01862 W
Population (1990): 12121 (4797 housing units)
Area: 7756.4 sq km (land), 109.8 sq km (water)

East Glacier Par, MT Zip code(s): 59434

East Glacier Park Village, MT (CDP, FIPS 22985) Location: 48.44706 N, 113.22233 W
Population (1990): 326 (198 housing units)
Area: 11.3 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)

Glacier, WA Zip code(s): 98244

U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Glacier

Gla"cial\, a. [L. glacialis, from glacies ice: cf. F. glacial.]

1. Pertaining to ice or to its action; consisting of ice; frozen; icy; esp., pertaining to glaciers; as, glacial phenomena. --Lyell.

2. (Chem.) Resembling ice; having the appearance and consistency of ice; -- said of certain solid compounds; as, glacial phosphoric or acetic acids.

Glacial acid (Chem.), an acid of such strength or purity as to crystallize at an ordinary temperature, in an icelike form; as acetic or carbolic acid.

Glacial drift (Geol.), earth and rocks which have been transported by moving ice, land ice, or icebergs; bowlder drift.

Glacial epoch or period (Geol.), a period during which the climate of the modern temperate regions was polar, and ice covered large portions of the northern hemisphere to the mountain tops.

Glacial theory or hypothesis. (Geol.) See Glacier theory, under Glacier.

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