ice shelfn.

1838 New Eng. Farmer 2 May 340/2 The ice shelves make an inclined plane, with a descent to the wall, so that, as the ice melts, the water runs down upon the wall and equalises the temperature through the cellar.

1877 Amer. Agriculturalist Oct. 376/3 The Hardin apparatus..consists of an ordinary tightly closed refrigerator, containing an ice shelf in the upper part, and a space beneath for deep cans for the milk.

1913 House & Garden Mar. 225 With an ice shelf, draining into a sanitary trap, and food shelves made of zinc, the cupboard is easily flushed with a hose.

1998 Washington Post (Nexis) 10 Apr. n27 The center table glitters with an ice shelf full of oysters and clams on the half-shell, shrimp, marinated mussels,..etc.

1869 G. Hartwig & A. H. G. Polar World xlii. 451 He [sc. a bear]..comes down with all his weight upon the roof of the dome, crushes it in, and with his paw seizes the young seal, who was quietly asleep upon the ice-shelf.

1914 T. W. E. David in Geogr. Jrnl. 43 606 If the meaning of the term ‘shelf’ can be extended to include old pack ice, old bay ice, ‘schollen-eis’, piedmonts aground or afloat, glacier tongues, etc., it may be termed the ice shelf coast, or, as it is hardly a true coast at all, simply ice shelf.

1958 Times 13 Jan. 9/6 We..made our very laborious way..on to the flat going of the Ross ice shelf itself.

1989 Amer. Alpine Jrnl. 31 62 Jay and Greg shared the tiny tent while I settled into my little scoop on the ice shelf that formed my perch.

2008 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) Feb. 55/2 The breakup or melting of floating ice shelves has no net effect on sea level.