DCHP-1 Online
ice-foot [trans. of Dan. eis fod] North 
1 n. sea ice that is anchored to the shore and extends seaward in a great shelf. See shore-ice (def. 1) 1954 quote.
See also: shore-ice (def. 1)
- 1854 (1892) I must reserve for my official report the detailed story of this ice-foot and its changes. The name is adopted on board ship from the Danish "Eis-fod," to designate a zone of ice which extends along the shore from the untried north beyond us almost to the Arctic circle. . . . a perennial growth, clinging to the bold faces of the cliffs, following the sweeps of the bays and the indentations of rivers.
- 1937 The nature of the ice-foot varies tremendously according to the locality, and while in some places it may form a broad highway over a hundred yards wide, in other places there may only be a few feet of rough ice clinging against the cliffs.
- 1937 The ice-foot indeed is one of the most interesting phenomena in the Arctic. It is that part of the sea ice which has frozen to the coast, and is therefore unaffected by tidal movements.
- 1954 LAND ICE (shore floe or ice foot) is field or floe ice attached to the coast.
2 n. an ice mass formed by pans drifting to shore and being subjected to showers of freezing spray, eventually becoming barricades between the land and the water. See ballacater 1958 quote.
See also: ballacater
- 1924 We see-sawed over the ice foot into land and struck up the Cape's big slope.
- 1958 Ice Foot--Heavy ridges of ice formed along a shore caused by tidal action and spray. The base may be below the water line at high tide.
- 1854 (1892) I must reserve for my official report the detailed story of this ice-foot and its changes. The name is adopted on board ship from the Danish "Eis-fod," to designate a zone of ice which extends along the shore from the untried north beyond us almost to the Arctic circle. . . . a perennial growth, clinging to the bold faces of the cliffs, following the sweeps of the bays and the indentations of rivers.