noun
- a large floating mass of ice, detached from a glacier and carried out to sea.
- Informal. an emotionally cold person.
- Australian Informal. a person who swims or surfs regularly in winter.
- tip of the iceberg, the first hint or revelation of something larger or more complex: The new evidence in the case is just the tip of the iceberg.
noun
- a large mass of ice floating in the sea, esp a mass that has broken off a polar glacier
- tip of the iceberg the small visible part of something, esp a problem or difficulty, that is much larger
- slang, mainly US a person considered to have a cold or reserved manner
1774, partial loan-translation of Dutch ijsberg, literally “ice mountain,” from ijs “ice” (see ice (n.)) + berg “mountain” (see barrow (n.2)). An earlier term was sea-hill (1690s). Phrase tip of the iceberg, in a figurative sense, first recorded 1962. Iceberg lettuce attested from 1893.
- A massive body of floating ice that has broken away from a glacier or ice field. Most of an iceberg lies underwater, but because ice is not as dense as water, about one ninth of it remains above the surface.
A large piece of ice that has broken away from a glacier at the shore and floated out to sea.