- “he ice-cloaked Arctic Ocean was once apparently a warm, biologically brewing basin so rich in sinking organic material that some scientists examining fresh evidence pulled from a submerged ridge near the North Pole say the seabed may now hold significant
Ice-cloaked
adjective; compounding
To be cloaked by ice; e.g. hidden inside or beneath the ice This clearly means to be cloaked in ice, i.e. hidden beneath or blocked by the ice. It comes from compounding ICE (‘frozen water’) and CLOAKED (‘to be hidden’). Rather than saying “hidden underneath the ice” and be literarily redundant, ice-cloaked seems most apt. This is mostly because using the adjective ‘CLOAKED’ is a bit more descriptive and pointed than ‘hidden underneath,’ especially since the ice is being used as a cloak (sort of a word choice because of the metaphorical properties of the ice)
Etymology : from a compound of ICE and CLOAKED, derived from CLOAK
Source : Read in New York Times during breakfast on 11/30: ‘Under All That Ice, Maybe Oil’
Last modified: 10 June 2008