ice age
nounEtymology Perhaps a calque of German Eiszeit.
1
Sciences A period of long-term reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence of major polar ice sheets that reach the ocean and calve icebergs.
- The earth is currently in the Late Cenozoic Ice Age, an ice age that began 33.9 million years ago with the Antarctic Ice Cap.
2
Colloquial Any of several glacial periods (within a scientific ice age) marked by episodes of extensive glaciation alternating with episodes of relative warmth (interglacial).
- The cause of ice ages, Köppen decided, is to be found in cool summers, not brutal winters.2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA, published 2003, page 377:
- Derived terms
- Little Ice Age