DCHP-1 Online

débâcle † Cdn French

• n. the annual thrusting forward and expansion of river ice during break-up, with special reference to the St. Lawrence River, where the phenomenon was accompanied with much flooding and considerable danger.

  See also: ice-shove  

  • 1852  Violent débâcles entering Assistance Bay from the lakes.
  • 1870  The ice-shove or débacle is always an event . . . in Lower Canada. . . .