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glacier

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glacier


  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Glacier  \Gla"cier\,  n.  [F.  glacier,  fr  glace  ice,  L.  glacies.] 
  An  immense  field  or  stream  of  ice,  formed  in  the  region  of 
  perpetual  snow,  and  moving  slowly  down  a  mountain  slope  or 
  valley,  as  in  the  Alps,  or  over  an  extended  area,  as  in 
  Greenland. 
 
  Note:  The  mass  of  compacted  snow  forming  the  upper  part  of  a 
  glacier  is  called  the  firn,  or  n['e]v['e];  the  glacier 
  proper  consist  of  solid  ice,  deeply  crevassed  where 
  broken  up  by  irregularities  in  the  slope  or  direction 
  of  its  path.  A  glacier  usually  carries  with  it 
  accumulations  of  stones  and  dirt  called  moraines,  which 
  are  designated,  according  to  their  position,  as 
  lateral,  medial,  or  terminal  (see  {Moraine}).  The 
  common  rate  of  flow  of  the  Alpine  glaciers  is  from  ten 
  to  twenty  inches  per  day  in  summer,  and  about  half  that 
  in  winter. 
 
  {Glacier  theory}  (Geol.),  the  theory  that  large  parts  of  the 
  frigid  and  temperate  zones  were  covered  with  ice  during 
  the  glacial,  or  ice,  period,  and  that  by  the  agency  of 
  this  ice,  the  loose  materials  on  the  earth's  surface, 
  called  drift  or  diluvium,  were  transported  and 
  accumulated. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  glacier 
  n  :  a  slowly  moving  mass  of  ice 
 
  From  U.S.  Gazetteer  (1990)  [gazetteer]: 
 
  Glacier,  WA 
  Zip  code(s):  98244 




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