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Iceberg
Definitions
- 1 The seaward end of a glacier. obsolete
- 2 lettuce with crisp tightly packed light-green leaves in a firm head wordnet
- 3 A huge mass of ocean-floating ice which has broken off a glacier or ice shelf
"The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank."
- 4 a large mass of ice floating at sea; usually broken off of a polar glacier wordnet
- 5 An aloof person. US, slang
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- 6 An impending disastrous event whose adverse effects are only beginning to show. figuratively
"He has little to lose: at present he will go down in history, alongside George W. Bush, as a skipper who ignored the looming fiscal iceberg."
- 7 A topic that is more convoluted and fractal than it may seem. Internet, figuratively, slang
"Near-synonym: rabbit hole"
- 8 A topic that is more convoluted and fractal than it may seem.; A list, infographic, or other enumeration of such a topic and its subcomponents, often ordered into groups sorted by obscurity and bizarreness. Internet, broadly, figuratively, slang
"Check out the gaming iceberg on this post! There's some really freaky titles there that I've never heard of."
Etymology
Partial calque of Dutch ijsberg (compound of ijs (“ice”) + berg (“mountain”)), 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. Figurative senses in reference to the fact that only one-tenth of an iceberg is usually visible above water.
See also for "iceberg"
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