What is "ice house"

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. (alternative spelling of icehouse English)

Ice houses or icehouses are buildings used to store ice throughout the year, commonly used prior to the invention of the refrigerator. Some were underground chambers, usually man-made, close to natural sources of winter ice such as freshwater lakes, but many were buildings with various types of insulation.

During the winter, ice and snow would be taken into the ice house and packed with insulation, often straw or sawdust. It would remain frozen for many months, often until the following winter, and could be used as a source of ice during summer months. The main application of the ice was the storage of perishable foods, but it could also be used simply to cool drinks, or allow ice-cream and sorbet desserts to be prepared. During its heyday a typical commercial ice house would store in a and building.

The Ice House is a historic commercial building in Moulton, Alabama. It was built in 1946 at the beginning of Moulton's post- World War II boom period. After the town's previous ice house on the courthouse square was demolished to make way for new construction, R. W. Carter built a new ice house one block from the square with state-of-the-art ice making equipment. The ice house operated until 1977, serving homes and businesses in and around Moulton, as well as customers including Legion Field in Birmingham and the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant across the Tennessee River. Today, the building houses an antique store, but the icemaking equipment is still intact. The building is a one-story, concrete block structure with a parapet roof. The façade has three original wood doors which originally enclosed the ice storage rooms, an entry door, and a window, all under a flat canopy. An office with two windows also projects from the façade. A concrete block residence constructed at the same time as the ice house sits behind the structure. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.