DCHP-1 Online

igloo iglu [< East Esk. iglu dwelling]

• 1a n. a domed structure built of blocks of hard snow; an Eskimo snowhouse.

  See also: ice-house (def. 2)  snowhouse (def. 1)  snow hut  snow igloo  

  • 1771  (1935)  [Yes, veritably made of snow, without either stone or wood--this house the indians call aneo-iggilo, which litterally is snow house.]
  • 1832  (1963)  Average thermometer, --35°. Very sharp; were obliged to get iglou porches (made of hardened snow) to the dwelling houses. which made them much warmer.
  • 1864  During the last few years Esquimaux live almost entirely in igloos--"snow­-houses"--through the winter season.
  • 1958  The domed igloo of the Eskimo is a familiar picture to most Canadians--yet only about one-third of Canada's Eskimos live in igloos.

• 1b n. any other Eskimo house, except the tent, or tupek.

  See also: tupek  

  • 1824  The natives term them, as well as the whole island, Igloolik; and Igloo being a house, the huts may have been the means of naming the country.
  • 1849  These buildings are generally formed of stakes driven into the ground, chinked with moss, and covered with bark; they are always warmed with stoves, otherwise the igloe would afford more comfort.
  • 1885  In summer the Eskimos live in conical skin tents, and in winter in half underground huts (igloos) built of stone, turf, earth, etc., entered by a long tunnel-like passage which can only be traversed on all fours.
  • 1916  There still remain at Hebron, Okkek, and Killinek old stone iglus roofed with turf, some of which are inhabited.
  • 1938  The igloos are made of rough wooden poles, and covered with reindeer skins.
  • 1958  Many people are still under the impression that Eskimos live in "igloos." Actually, the word igloos to an Eskimo means any type of home which cannot be moved--a snow house or a wooden one.
  • 1966  . . . the presiding steward . . . retired to his igloo to compile the results. . . .

• 2 n. Obs. a breathing-hole in ice, made by seals.

  See also: aglu  

  • 1864  While Koojesse kept hold of the line, four or five fathoms long, the seal worked itself hastily back into the igloo, its birthplace, and there made a plunge down the seal-hole into the sea.