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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
pack ice
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Flotillas of tabular icebergs and ice islands sail among the pack ice.
▪ Most adult male bears spend their lives out on the pack ice, living mainly on seals.
▪ The pack ice and fast ice that spread over polar seas form vast sheets many hundreds of square kilometres in area.
▪ The September-October northern limit of pack ice varies considerably from year to year.
▪ They penetrate south to varying degrees, blue and minke whales often appearing well south of the pack ice edge.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Pack ice

Pack \Pack\, n. [Akin to D. pak, G. pack, Dan. pakke, Sw. packa, Icel. pakki, Gael. & Ir. pac, Arm. pak. Cf. Packet.]

  1. A bundle made up and prepared to be carried; especially, a bundle to be carried on the back; a load for an animal; a bale, as of goods.
    --Piers Plowman.

  2. [Cf. Peck, n.] A number or quantity equal to the contents of a pack; hence, a multitude; a burden. ``A pack of sorrows.'' ``A pack of blessings.''
    --Shak.

    Note: ``In England, by a pack of meal is meant 280 lbs.; of wool, 240 lbs.''
    --McElrath.

  3. A group or quantity of connected or similar things; as, a pack of lies; specifically:

    1. A full set of playing cards; a deck; also, the assortment used in a particular game; as, a euchre pack.

    2. A number of wolves, hounds or dogs, hunting or kept together; as, a wolf pack.

    3. A number of persons associated or leagued in a bad design or practice; a gang; as, a pack of thieves or knaves.

    4. A shook of cask staves.

    5. A bundle of sheet-iron plates for rolling simultaneously.

  4. A large area of floating pieces of ice driven together more or less closely.
    --Kane.

  5. An envelope, or wrapping, of sheets used in hydropathic practice, called dry pack, wet pack, cold pack, etc., according to the method of treatment.

  6. [Prob. the same word; but cf. AS. p[=ae]can to deceive.] A loose, lewd, or worthless person. See Baggage. [Obs.]
    --Skelton.

  7. (Med.) In hydropathic practice, a wrapping of blankets or sheets called dry pack, wet pack, cold pack, etc., according to the condition of the blankets or sheets used, put about a patient to give him treatment; also, the fact or condition of being so treated.

  8. (Rugby Football) The forwards who compose one half of the scrummage; also, the scrummage.

    Pack animal, an animal, as a horse, mule, etc., employed in carrying packs.

    Pack and prime road or Pack and prime way, a pack road or bridle way.

    Pack cloth, a coarse cloth, often duck, used in covering packs or bales.

    Pack horse. See Pack animal (above).

    Pack ice. See def. 4, above.

    Pack moth (Zo["o]l.), a small moth ( Anacampsis sarcitella) which, in the larval state, is very destructive to wool and woolen fabrics.

    Pack needle, a needle for sewing with pack thread.
    --Piers Plowman.

    Pack saddle, a saddle made for supporting the load on a pack animal.
    --Shak.

    Pack staff, a staff for supporting a pack; a peddler's staff.

    Pack train (Mil.), a troop of pack animals.

Wiktionary
pack ice

n. A large consolidated mass of floating sea ice.

WordNet
pack ice

n. a large expanse of floating ice [syn: Ice pack]

Usage examples of "pack ice".

Black as night, colder than pack ice, fed by self-generating winds, and subject to each shift and roll of the mountain it bored down through, the Inverted Spire was a force unto itself.

Beyond lay the Bransfield Strait, and, beyond that, pack ice and the brutal coast of Antarctica.

Pressure was forcing the pack ice high on the shore of the uncharted land.

The rope was whipped away from me and Erik Bland slipped over the edge on to the pack ice below.

Before the captain could protest, she took off down the slope of the hummock to the pack ice and set off toward the abandoned vessel.

As this pack ice moves and shifts, so you will spread out among the pack and the ice floes that surround it.

Nearly six months earlier, the ship had become locked in the pack ice, and to endure the boredom she had begun taking daily hikes, keeping within easy view of the ship and its crew, who kept an eye on her.