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glacier A mass of snow and ice continuously moving from higher to lower ground or, if afloat, continuously spreading. The principal forms of glacier are inland ice sheets, ice shelves, ice streams, ice caps, ice piedmonts, cirque glaciers, and various types of mountain (valley) glaciers. When glaciers reach the sea, they break off in chunks to form icebergs and other pieces of ice, generally referred to as ice of land origin. See iceberg, bergy bit, growler.

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