iceberg

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyH- Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyH-so-der. Proto-Germanic *īsą Proto-West Germanic *īs Old English īs Middle English is English ice ▲ Dutch ijsbergpcalq. English iceberg Partial calque of Dutch ijsberg (compound of ijs (“ice”) + berg (“mountain”)), from Middle Dutch ijsberch. First used to describe a glacier as seen at a distance from a ship then used as a term to describe the floating chunks of ice broken off from such glaciers. Cognate to German Eisberg, Danish isbjerg, Norwegian isberg and Swedish isberg. Figurative senses in reference to the fact that only one-tenth of an iceberg is usually visible above water.

1. The seaward end of a glacier.
2. A huge mass of ocean-floating ice which has broken off a glacier or ice shelf

   “The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank.”

   “Clissold the excellent cook, who should have gone with the motor party, tumbled off a small iceberg and concussed himself while posing or 'ponting' as it had come to be known- Griffith Taylor, with his usual wit, had defined 'to pont' as 'to spend a deuce of a time posing in an uncomfortable position'.”

3. An aloof person.
4. An impending disastrous event whose adverse effects are only beginning to show.

   “He has little to lose: at present he will go down in history, alongside George W. Bush, as a skipper who ignored the looming fiscal iceberg.”

5. A topic that is more convoluted and fractal than it may seem.

   “Near-synonym: rabbit hole”

   “Do some digging into that politician's past life and associates, and you'll see that the iceberg runs deep.”

6. A topic that is more convoluted and fractal than it may seem.

   “Check out the gaming iceberg on this post! There's some really freaky titles there that I've never heard of.”

   “Today we're gonna talk about the Star Wars iceberg.”