iceberg

Meaning

Noun

• The seaward end of a glacier.
• A huge mass of ocean-floating ice which has broken off a glacier or ice shelf
• An aloof person.
• An impending disastrous event whose adverse effects are only beginning to show, in reference to one-tenth of the volume of an iceberg being visible above water.

Origin

• Borrowed from Dutch ijsberg (compound of ), from Middle Dutch ijsberch. First used to describe a glacier as seen at a distance from a ship then used as a term to describe the floating chunks of ice broken off from such glaciers. Cognate to German Eisberg, Danish isbjerg, Norwegian isberg and Swedish isberg.