What is "ice age"

Ice \Ice\ ([imac]s), n. [OE. is, iis, AS. [=i]s; aksin to D. ijs, G. eis, OHG. [=i]s, Icel. [=i]ss, Sw. is, Dan. iis, and perh. to E. iron.]

1. Water or other fluid frozen or reduced to the solid state by cold; frozen water. It is a white or transparent colorless substance, crystalline, brittle, and viscoidal. Its specific gravity (0.92, that of water at 4[deg] C. being 1.0) being less than that of water, ice floats.

   Note: Water freezes at 32[deg] F. or 0[deg] Cent., and ice melts at the same temperature. Ice owes its cooling properties to the large amount of heat required to melt it.

2. Concreted sugar.
   --Johnson.

3. Water, cream, custard, etc., sweetened, flavored, and artificially frozen.

4. Any substance having the appearance of ice; as, camphor ice. Anchor ice, ice which sometimes forms about stones and other objects at the bottom of running or other water, and is thus attached or anchored to the ground. Bay ice, ice formed in bays, fiords, etc., often in extensive fields which drift out to sea. Ground ice, anchor ice. Ice age (Geol.), the glacial epoch or period. See under Glacial. Ice anchor (Naut.), a grapnel for mooring a vessel to a field of ice. --Kane. Ice blink [Dan. iisblink], a streak of whiteness of the horizon, caused by the reflection of light from ice not yet in sight. Ice boat.

   1. A boat fitted with skates or runners, and propelled on ice by sails; an ice yacht.

   2. A strong steamboat for breaking a channel through ice.

      Ice box or Ice chest, a box for holding ice; a box in which things are kept cool by means of ice; a refrigerator.

      Ice brook, a brook or stream as cold as ice. [Poetic]
      --Shak.

      Ice cream [for iced cream], cream, milk, or custard, sweetened, flavored, and frozen.

      Ice field, an extensive sheet of ice.

      Ice float, Ice floe, a sheet of floating ice similar to an ice field, but smaller.

      Ice foot, shore ice in Arctic regions; an ice belt.
      --Kane.

      Ice house, a close-covered pit or building for storing ice.

      Ice machine (Physics), a machine for making ice artificially, as by the production of a low temperature through the sudden expansion of a gas or vapor, or the rapid evaporation of a volatile liquid.

      Ice master. See Ice pilot (below).

      Ice pack, an irregular mass of broken and drifting ice.

      Ice paper, a transparent film of gelatin for copying or reproducing; papier glac['e].

      Ice petrel (Zo["o]l.), a shearwater ( Puffinus gelidus) of the Antarctic seas, abundant among floating ice.

      Ice pick, a sharp instrument for breaking ice into small pieces.

      Ice pilot, a pilot who has charge of a vessel where the course is obstructed by ice, as in polar seas; -- called also ice master.

      Ice pitcher, a pitcher adapted for ice water.

      Ice plow, a large tool for grooving and cutting ice.

n. Any of several cold periods in the history of the earth marked by episodes of extensive glaciation alternating with episodes of relative warmth.

n. any period of time during which glaciers covered a large part of the earth's surface; "the most recent ice age was during the Pleistocene" [syn: glacial period, glacial epoch]

An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Within a long-term ice age, individual pulses of cold climate are termed " glacial periods" (or alternatively "glacials" or "glaciations" or colloquially as "ice age"), and intermittent warm periods are called " interglacials". Glaciologically, ice age implies the presence of extensive ice sheets in both northern and southern hemispheres. By this definition, we are in an interglacial period—the Holocene—of the ice age that began 2.6 million years ago at the start of the Pleistocene epoch, because the Greenland, Arctic, and Antarctic ice sheets still exist.

__NOTOC__ An ice age is a geologic period characterized by the presence of polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Periods of major glaciation (commonly also referred to as ice ages) are scientifically termed glacial periods.

Ice Age may also refer to:

Ice Age is a 2002 platform game based on the film of the same name, developed by Artificial Mind and Movement, published by Ubi Soft Entertainment and released for the Game Boy Advance.

Ice Age is a 1975 West German drama film directed by Peter Zadek. It was entered into the 25th Berlin International Film Festival. Eiszeit began as a theatre play by Tankred Dorst (1973) about Knut Hamsun, a Nobel Prize-winning author but unrepentant admirer of Nazi Germany.

"Ice Age" is a song by American post-industrial group How to Destroy Angels from their second release, An Omen EP. It is also one of four songs from the extended play to be featured on their first full-length release, Welcome Oblivion.

Ice Age is a block of three sets in Magic: The Gathering, consisting of the Ice Age, Alliances and Coldsnap sets. It is also the titular first set in the block. The Ice Age set is the eleventh set and the sixth expansion set, released in June 1995. Set in the years from 450 to 2934 AR, the set describes a world set in perpetual winter due to the events in Antiquities. Ice Age was followed up June 1996 with Alliances, the fourteenth Magic: The Gathering set and eighth expansion set.; and on July 21, 2006 with Coldsnap. The time period between Alliances and Coldsnap was the longest period of time between the beginning and the completion of a full block in Magic. Originally, the set Homelands, released in October 1995, was the second set in the Ice Age block (with Alliances being the third set), but following the release of Coldsnap, Homelands was removed from the block in favor of Coldsnap.

Ice Age was a progressive band from New York, USA.

Founded by guitarist Jimmy Pappas, vocalist/keyboardist Josh Pincus, drummer Hal Aponte and bassist Arron DiCesare, the band released their debut album in 1999, titled The Great Divide. Liberation followed in 2001, both on Magna Carta Records.

Ice Age are influenced by pop/ progressive bands such as Yes, Kansas and Rush, but also by more modern progressive metal bands like Queensrÿche, and Dream Theater.

In 2006, the band officially changed their name to Soulfractured. This was accompanied by an announced shift in the band's music - less overt progressive experimentation, with closer attention paid to melodic structure and songcraft. In this incarnation the band released the Soulfractured EP, made available through the band's websites. They had previously released the Little Bird EP as Ice Age. Shortly after the second EP's release, the group disbanded.

The Ice Age franchise is produced by Blue Sky Studios, a division of 20th Century Fox, and featuring the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, and Chris Wedge. Five films have been released in the series thus far with Ice Age in 2002, Ice Age: The Meltdown in 2006, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs in 2009, Ice Age: Continental Drift in 2012, and Ice Age: Collision Course in 2016. Ice Age is the first animated franchise to produce five full-length theatrical films. The series follows a group of mammals surviving the Paleolithic ice age. It has received some criticism for making no attempt to be scientifically accurate.

Ice Age is a 2002 American computer-animated buddy comedy adventure film directed by Chris Wedge from a story by Michael J. Wilson. It was produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The film features the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary and Chris Wedge and was nominated at the 75th Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature. It shows the adventures of a sloth named Sid, a mammoth named Manny and a few other animals when the Earth was being flooded with glaciers.

This film was met with mostly positive reviews and was a box office success by grossing over $383 million, starting the Ice Age franchise. It was followed by three sequels, including Ice Age: The Meltdown in 2006, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs in 2009, and Ice Age: Continental Drift in 2012. A fifth film, titled Ice Age: Collision Course, was released on July 22, 2016.