DCHP-1 Online
ice-road 
1 n. a winter route across a river, lake, etc.
See also: ice-bridge (def. 1)
- 1845 Experienced "ice-road" makers are then selected to cut and prepare a carriage and foot-way across the river, to define which large branches and stems of the fir-tree are placed at legitimate distances to indicate the path a well-conditioned Canadian should travel. . . .
- 1884 The ice-roads [across the St. Lawrence] are always marked-out by spruce-trees stuck in the snow.
- 1955 The "shove" menaced anyone still trying to cross the St. Lawrence on the ice-roads, and year by year there would be rescues or casualties.
2 n. a route following the course of a frozen river. See also river road and winter road (def. 3).
See also: river road
- 1963 The forest is criss-crossed by good solid ice roads all winter, but a thaw can come quite suddenly in March.
- 1845 Experienced "ice-road" makers are then selected to cut and prepare a carriage and foot-way across the river, to define which large branches and stems of the fir-tree are placed at legitimate distances to indicate the path a well-conditioned Canadian should travel. . . .