icicle
noun
Did you know?
Old English gicel, meaning icicle, became Middle English ikyl or ikel and later modern English ickle, which survives as a dialect word in Yorkshire, England. The word for ice in Old English is is, and in a manuscript of about the year 1000 we find Latin stiria, “icicle,” glossed, somewhat redundantly, as ises gicel, that is, “an icicle of ice.” Some 300 years later, in Middle English, this became the compound known today as icicle, which means precisely what it did 1000 years ago.
Examples of icicle in a Sentence
Stephen Saito, Variety, 12 Mar. 2024
Drop by the Chihuly Collection to ogle dazzling glass art by Dale Chihuly, including a stunning ruby-red icicle chandelier crafted exclusively for the space.
—Angela Caraway-Carlton, Miami Herald, 23 Feb. 2024
The white fir tree, which stands 60 feet tall and weighs 12,000 pounds, is adorned with thousands of lights, icicles and strobes.
—Hanh Truong, Sacramento Bee, 31 Jan. 2024
An easy way to add warmth to your space if your floors are tile or hardwood, is with a plush area rug to keep your toes from feeling like icicles.
—Toni Sutton, Peoplemag, 23 Dec. 2023
The condensation from my breathing created icicles on my eyelashes.
—Emily Curiel, Kansas City Star, 17 Jan. 2024
In December, with snow crusted around the SUV and icicles dangling off its rear bumper, the Ramseys reached the South Pole, completing their globe-spanning journey.
—Daniel Wu, Washington Post, 16 Jan. 2024
With the sun setting in Chicago, the precipitation sparkled like icicles each time the lights strobed out through Union Park.
—Pitchfork, 20 Dec. 2023
Frosty the Snowman and his wife live in an icicle built for two in the Snow Belt on the snowbanks of Lake Snowbegone.
—Richard Lederer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Dec. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'icicle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Icicle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/icicle. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
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icicle
noun
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