ice floe

a large flat mass of floating ice.

Origin of ice floe

First recorded in 1810–20

In the morning, the ice-floe burst across immediately beneath the ship.

Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art |Various
While they were toiling south, the ice-floe over which they were plodding was drifting more rapidly north.

American Merchant Ships and Sailors |Willis J. Abbot
One might as well be steering through an ice-floe as try to come to an anchor here without running foul of something.

Jacob Faithful |Captain Frederick Marryat
The pieces of ice-floe bobbing in the choppy current inspired him with uneasiness, even with fear.

The Boy With the U.S. Miners |Francis Rolt-Wheeler

All this time the ice-floe was moving slowly but surely forward.

The Cruise of the O Moo |Roy J. Snell

ice floe

a sheet of ice, of variable size, floating in the sea See also ice field (def. 1)

ice floe

A large, flat expanse of floating ice smaller than a marine ice field.