Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A tapering spike of ice formed by the freezing of dripping or falling water.
- n. Informal An aloof or emotionally unresponsive person.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A pendent mass of ice tapering downward to a point, formed by the freezing of drops of water or other liquid flowing down from the place of attachment.
- n. In heraldry, same as goutte or drop, but reversed, with the point downward. Compare gutté reversed, under gutté.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A pendent, and usually conical, mass of ice, formed by freezing of dripping water.
WordNet 3.0
- n. ice resembling a pendent spear, formed by the freezing of dripping water
Etymologies
- From Middle English isykle, isikel, equivalent to ice + ickle. Cognate with Low German Isjäkel, Ishekel ("icicle"), Dutch ijskegel ("icicle"), Danish dialectal jisegel ("icicle"), Norwegian isjukel ("icicle"). More at ice, ickle. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English isikel : is, ice; see ice + ikel, icicle (from Old English gicel; see yeg- in Indo-European roots). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Come January, they were selling off what they call icicle lights, but we call fairy lights, for about 50 cents each.”
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
“Everyone knows what an icicle is and what it looks like, so this research is very accessible.”
“Her hilarious and demented crafts projects -- like the meat helmet, the everybody in icicle lights campaign, and the stink-beetle cross stitch -- never cease to amaze me.”
“SHAPIRO: Was there ever a moment that you were crafting a tune and you thought: If only he had used the word icicle instead of snowflake, this would be so much easier, or if only this were the chorus instead of that?”
“Sheikha dazzles east London in fur boots with 'icicle' heels on tour of Olympic stadium”
The Guardian: Sheikha Mozah outdoes Lady Gaga with Arctic-inspired footwear
“When there is nothing left of the winter snow but these ridges behind the stone walls, and a dingy drift here and there in a hollow, or in the woods, Winter has virtually resigned the icicle which is his sceptre.”
Monday Photo Shoot: Bye-Bye Winter? « Adventures in Juggling
“Where you see white blare, like a loud trumpet, in real life is all lacy "icicle" lights.”
“And when they wanted to write down _tung_ "a beam," instead of "icicle," they put the obvious indicator 木 "wood," thus 棟.”
“Favorite soft-plastics are Norton Sand Eels in "icicle" (silver/blue) or "black magic" (black with red glitter) colors.”
“The first word I ever spoke was "icicle", and I was in my late twenties before I ever heard talk of tugboats and barnacles and offshore gas fields.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘icicle’.
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Old words
Old words: modern English words that are old according to criteria that are still vague: Either words common to several old languages or words substantially similar in old English. Please add to or...
mother, father, bark, spit, old, fire, this, that, black, thou, to give, hand and 259 more...
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Pickle and such
Words that end like pickle. Listed here because they're funny (because they end like pickle).
pickle, sparkle, yokel, tinkle, fickle, prickle, trickle, circle, snorkel, ensnorkel, chuckle, buckle and 137 more...
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Sicle
I sicle, you sicle, we're all sick for something-sicle
Popsicle, Creamsicle, Dreamsicle, Fudgesicle, cake-sicle, Epsicle, poopsicle, motorsickle, findesicle, hammerandsicle, bisicle, ossicle and 19 more...
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Duplicated Openings
vivid, peperoni, popover, icicle, coconut, cacao, tatami, acacia, memento, memetics, dadaism, ululation and 8 more...
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Finer Points
Objects like needles and spines whose tips are drawn to a fine point.
poynet, prickpunch, spine, needle, pin, baton, glochid, quill, beak, stylet, trocar, harelip-needle and 66 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, I
irenic, inimical, ignotism, infrangible, internecine, illumine, ingot, imposter, iconoclast, indefeasible, indefatigable, impingement and 184 more...
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kat's words
ecumenical, cacophony, clatter, marimba, bamboo, saffron, slice, mercurial, pomegranate, cranky, slipshod, scritch and 511 more...
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aliko's Words
deli, turkey, bodrum, deniz, sunny, seks, tatil, hava, zeeman, captain, kapitein, kaptan and 256 more...
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Words for ice and snow
Environmental Ice and Snow
(excluding all the food ice)ice, icicle, frazil, frasil, sleet, slush, snow, flurry, snowfall, freeze, flash-freeze, quick-freeze and 619 more...
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katiad's Words
exquisite, obnoxious, noxious, extravaganza, whirlwind, whirling, wild, spinster, existential, chaos, zephyr, blasphemy and 310 more...
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NakedFringe's Words
masticate, chamber, orchid, mandolin, yellow, pomegranate, conundrum, paradox, gyrate, calamitous, opalescent, cacophony and 533 more...
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1906 Railway Cipher Code
Terms from the Standard Cipher Code of the American Railway Association, 1906. The terms were shorthand for common phrases used in telegraphic communications between station agents and Railway Asso...
abdominal, abetting, abiology, ablative, abnormal, abominate, aboveboard, abrasive, absinth, abstinent, accursed, acetate and 212 more...
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the first one
this the inception...
bete noir, zook, botch, icicle, lassie, Bobbitt, sedition, billiant
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dirtysnowflake's Words
snowflake, parisian, couture, mystery, ruby, clandestine, corset, october, list, touch, caress, aboulia and 156 more...
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arby's words
me default
shirty, kerfuffle, tenterhooks, susurrus, palimpsest, crimson, rufous, cicatrix, crepuscular, carapace, quaff, exanimate and 239 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for icicle.

oroboros Eavesdropper? (crossword puzzle clue/answer) Apr 20, 2013
hernesheir "What importance do they attach to?", in the odd shorthand of railroad telegraphy. --US Railway Association, Standard Cipher Code, 1906. Jan 23, 2013
TNH IMO, "icicle" has the best set of alternate spellings I know of. Check out its etymological entry on this site. Not all the forms listed there are English, but almost all of them are recognizably the same word. Jun 10, 2009
evenstar I like this word. It's all prickly-beautiful. Feb 24, 2009