ice age

See also: Ice Age

English
Neko Harbour, Antarctica circa 2000

Alternative forms

Etymology

Perhaps a calque of German Eiszeit.[1]

Noun

ice age (plural ice ages)

  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.[2]
    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).
    • 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA, published 2003, page 377:
      The cause of ice ages, Köppen decided, is to be found in cool summers, not brutal winters.

Translations

References
  1. Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “ice age”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  2. UMass Lowell - A human-induced hothouse climate? https://web.archive.org/web/20190510115634/http://faculty.uml.edu/lweeden/documents/HumaninducedhothouseGSAToday.pdf

Further reading
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