| 释义 |
iceberg|ˈaɪsbɜːg|
Also 8 ice-burg.
[Adapted form of the term employed in several of the cognate languages, MDu., Du. ijsberg, G. eisberg, Da. isbjerg, Sw. isberg (f. is ice + berg hill, mountain); prob. taken immediately from Du.]
†1. An Arctic glacier, which comes close to the coast, and is seen from the sea as a hill or ‘hummock’. Obs. Cf. ice-hill, ice-mountain.
1774Jrnl. Voy. under Com. Phipps 44 Of the ice-hills there are seven..These are known by the name of the seven ice-burgs, and are thought to be the highest of the kind in the country [Spitzbergen]. 1774C. J. Phipps Voy. N. Pole 70 Icebergs are large bodies of ice filling the vallies between the high mountains; the face towards the sea is nearly perpendicular. 1797Encycl. Brit. s.v. 1820Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. I. 101 The Iceberg..written Ysberg by the Dutch signifies ice-mountain. I speak not here of the islands of ice which are borne to southern climates on the bosom of the ocean, but of those prodigious lodgments of ice which occur in the valleys. Ibid. 108 Icebergs are as permanent as the rocks on which they rest..In some places..the berg or glacier makes its way to a great extent into the sea..and then being capable of large dismemberments, gives rise to the kind of mountainous masses or icebergs, found afloat. 1821Byron Juan iv. c, 'Tis as a snowball which derives assistance From every flake, and yet rolls on the same, Even till an iceberg it may chance to grow.
2. a. A detached portion of a glacier carried out to sea; a huge floating mass of ice, often rising to a great height above the water. Formerly also called ice-island, also island or shoal of ice.
1820Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. I. 250 The term Ice-berg..is also as commonly extended to the large peaks..or islets of ice, that are found floating in the sea. 1830Edin. Encycl. XVII. 12/1 The floating iceberg remains to be considered... In many parts of the Antarctic regions, they are met with in vast numbers, and of a prodigious size. 1835Sir J. Ross Narr. 2nd Voy. iv. 50 But one iceberg was seen to-day, and that a very small one. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. viii. (1856) 58 Ice-berg. [Note] This term is applied by many authors to ice masses either on shore or at sea. I restrict it to detached ice, in contradistinction to the glacier or ice in situ. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 163 The icebergs, like glaciers, are laden with fragments of rock. 1961A. Defant Physical Oceanogr. viii. 274 The flat-topped Antarctic icebergs immerse to greater depths.
b. transf. Used allusively with reference to the larger portion of an iceberg being unseen (and hence a largely unknown quantity, problem, etc.).
1961in Webster. 1964Observer 26 July 10/4 This..situation is illustrated by what is..called the iceberg of disease. Above the surface is the illness we know about. 1965Listener 21 Oct. 614/2 These were only the visible part of the iceberg. Most of the organs of the left..were greatly influenced. 1969M. Gilbert Etruscan Net ii. ii. 109, I believe that Broke's been made the victim of an elaborate frame-up. I think, to employ a well-known metaphor, that all we can see at the moment is the tip of the iceberg, and that there is depth beyond depth below it. 1973Daily Tel. 19 Feb. 2/1 They believe the number of prosecutions for such offences represent only ‘the tip of the iceberg’, and that many undischarged bankrupts..are violating the law undetected.
3. fig. A person compared to an iceberg, on account of his cold unemotional nature.
1840Lady C. Bury Hist. of Flirt v, Captain Thelwal is a perfect iceberg. 1882Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. cxix. 79 We neither care for devout dunces nor for intellectual ice⁓bergs.
4. Comb., as iceberg-droppings, boulders, gravel, clay, etc. dropped by melting icebergs; iceberg-green, a light green resembling that of an iceberg; iceberg lettuce U.S., a crisp light-green lettuce.
1889J. Geikie in Nature 19 Sept., The drifts of those regions are not iceberg-droppings..but true morainic matter and fluvio-glacial detritus. 1893Burpee's Farm Annual 28 As long as our supply lasts we will send a sample packet of the iceberg lettuce free for trial. 1895Daily News 19 Jan. 8/2 One of the Polish dresses is in iceberg green cloth. 1904W. W. Tracy Amer. Varieties Lettuce 56 Iceberg [lettuce], a decidedly crisp variety, strictly cabbage-heading, large, late, slow to shoot to seed. 1933F. M. Farmer Boston Cooking-School Cook Bk. (rev. ed.) xxviii. 420 Iceberg or California Lettuce. Cut in halves or quarters. Remove hard center. 1960‘I. Devi’ Yoga for You (1965) 189 One head romaine or any other green salad, except iceberg lettuce, which contains almost no chlorophyll. 1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. VII. 478/2 Crisphead or iceberg lettuce is the most widely grown type. 1970‘J. Morris’ Candywine Devel. xx. 223 He took a loaf of French bread, an iceberg lettuce and three onions from the refrigerator.
Hence ˈiceberger, one who has had experience of icebergs; ˈicebergship, coldness, indifference; ˈicebergy a., cold, icy.
1842United Service Mag. ii. 154 Many a fine fellow was doomed to fall, before official icebergship was thawed. 1861L. L. Noble Icebergs 217 Captain Knight, an experienced iceberger. 1888L. Spender Kept Secret I. xi. 198, I was prepared with my most icebergy manner. |