glacier
nounUK /ˈɡlæs.jə/ · US /ˈɡleɪ.ʃɚ/
Etymology Borrowed from French glacier, from Franco-Provençal gllaciér, from Vulgar Latin *glaciārium, a derivative of Latin glaciēs (“ice”), of uncertain origin. First attested in English in 1744 per the OED.
1
Geography, Geology, Natural sciences A large body of ice which flows under its own mass, usually downhill.
- They warned that the effects of glacier melting on water resources are becoming “increasingly serious” for China.
2
Hobbies, Lifestyle, Mountaineering, Sports An area of a mountain where snow is present year-round.
- You can ski down the glacier in both the winter and the summer.
3
Figuratively Something that moves very slowly
- The queue in the pharmacy was a glacier.
- Derived terms
27 terms
continental glacier, Doomsday Glacier, glaciation, glacier bird, glacier buttercup, Glacier County, glacier cream, glaciered, Glaciergate, glacier glasses, glacierist, glacierization, glacierized, glacierless, glacierlike, glacier lily, glacier milk, glacier mouse, Hubbard Glacier, palaeoglacier, paleoglacier, rock glacier, Ruth Glacier, salt glacier, Siachen Glacier, snowdrift glacier, Thwaites Glacier- Related terms
- glacial, glaciate, glaciology, iceberg