DCHP-2

ice-bridge DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

• 1a n.

  a bridge across a river, bay, etc., formed by the natural freezing of the water and used as a means of crossing from one shore to the other.

  See also: bridge (def. 1)  ice-road (def. 1)  pont  

  • This use of the term is doubtless a translation of the Canadian French pont in this sense.

  • 1781  [. . . the icy bridge over the Great River St. Lawrence before Quebec has stood fast, and may . . . continue passable till the . . . 30th of April next.]
  • 1792  (1911)  Col. Simcoe and I were going to walk on the ice bridge.
  • 1873  (1904)  By the 22nd all preparations were declared complete, and we began to cross the river over the doubtful ice-bridge.
  • 1963  . . . a very gay and animated water colour of the Winter Carnival in Quebec City, with crowds of people on an ice bridge extending across the St. Lawrence. . . .

• 1b n.

  a natural bridge of ice reinforced by flooding, corduroying, or artificial refrigeration.

  See also: corduroy ((v.))  

  • 1957  Once the river has frozen solidly, highway crews will start flooding operations to build up an ice bridge as the base for the winter road across the river.
  • 1958  They had made an ice bridge over the Kakisa [River] earlier, corduroying its surface with logs and then pumping water over the logs to sheath them in ice and provide a surface three or four feet thick over the river ice. . . .
  • 1959  Then the company consulted the University of Alberta's famed Engineer Robert M. Hardy. His startling $30,000 proposal: build a thicker ice bridge with artificial refrigeration.

• 2 n.

  a bridge of ice formed by the jamming of ice-cakes in a river or other channel.

  • 1889  When the river below is running full of ice, sometimes a "jam" occurs at the narrowest part; and when intensely cold it speedily "takes" or becomes firmly frozen. Sometimes, however, several winters pass without the formation of an ice-bridge.
  • 1903  . . . the volume of water, tossed, broken, dashed into foam, which floated down like miniature icebergs on the mighty rushing current till the natural ice-bridge was reached, made a scene not soon to be forgotten.
  • 1964  Now in November, it [the river] was nearly choked; a mad race of water in the middle flung rafts of ice to the sides, burrowed under ice bridges, and showed in roils and slicks as far as could be seen.

• 3 n. — Arctic

  See quote.

  • 1920  (1939)  The officers on the ice bridge, which was rigged up high so that ice could be seen farther off, were busy zigzagging the ship to avoid being caught again.