iceberg
/ˈʌɪsbəːɡ
/noun
A large floating mass of ice detached from a glacier or ice sheet and carried out to sea.The environment in the Antarctic is magnificent with glaciers, icebergs and ice floes on a scale which is awe-inspiring....
- Sea ice is frozen salt water, and when natural forces break it into pieces, the larger ones are called not icebergs but ice floes.
- Water lapped at the edge of the ice-sheets, small icebergs floating off and melting in the warmer waters.
Phrases
the tip of an (or the) iceberg
Origin
Late 18th century: from Dutch ijsberg, from ijs 'ice' + berg 'hill'.
The earliest meaning of iceberg in English was for a glacier which is seen from the sea as a hill. The term came in the late 18th century from Dutch ijsberg, from ijs ‘ice’ and berg ‘hill’. The expression the tip of the iceberg, ‘the small visible part of a larger problem that remains hidden’, is surprisingly recent, being recorded only from the 1950s.