DCHP-1 Online

break-up

• 1 n. the spring thawing of the ice on rivers and lakes, especially the point in time when the ice breaks into pieces that are flushed away by the current.

  See also: breaking-up (def. 2)  freeze-up  open water (def. 1)  

  • 1854  On the first appearance of a break up in March there is a regular stampede among the teamsters. . . .
  • 1965  Residents of the town gauge the arrival of spring every year by the departure of the ice mantle. Already this year there are signs of a break-up

• 2 n. the melting of the snow and the frozen ground in spring; spring thaw.

  See also: breaking-up (def. 1)  

  • 1860  We have every prospect of an early break-up.
  • 1962  Breakup came early and green grass followed hard on the last of it.

• 3 n. the period of time taken for the ice in rivers and lakes to soften, crack up, and disappear.

  See also: break-up period  

  • 1938  The Mackenzie delta at its mouth is ninety to one hundred and twenty miles wide, and is a vast network of sloughs, lakes and rivers, separated by low-lying land that, during the breakup . . . is completely submerged.
  • 1961  The ferry operation across the Mackenzie River at Mile 82 . . . is discontinued during fall freeze-up and spring break-up.