| glacial | 1. Pertaining to ice or to its action; consisting of ice; frozen; icy; especially, pertaining to glaciers; as, glacial phenomena. 2. <chemistry> Resembling ice; having the appearance and consistency of ice; said of certain solid compounds; as, glacial phosphoric or acetic acids. <chemistry> Glacial acid See Glacier theory, under Glacier. Origin: L. Glacialis, from glacies ice: cf. F. Glacial. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| glacial phosphoric acid | An anhydride of phosphoric acid used as a reagent, and in the manufacture of zinc oxyphosphate cement for dentistry. Synonym: metaphosphoric acid. (05 Mar 2000) |
| glacialist | One who attributes the phenomena of the drift, in geology, to glaciers. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| glaciate | 1. To convert into, or cover with, ice. 2. <geology> To produce glacial effects upon, as in the scoring of rocks, transportation of loose material, etc. Glaciated rocks, rocks whose surfaces have been smoothed, furrowed, or striated, by the action of ice. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| glacier | 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. The mass of compacted snow forming the upper part of a glacier is called the firn, or neve; 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. <geology> Glacier theory, 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. Origin: F. Glacier, fr. Glace ice, L. Glacies. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |