[from ICEBERG, a. Ger. eisberg = ice-mountain.] Short for iceberg: A (floating) mountain or mass of ice; (only used when ice is mentioned or understood in the context).
1823. Byron, Island, IV. iv. Steep, harsh, and slippery as a berg of ice.
1830. Lyell, Princ. Geol. (1875), I. I. vi. 106. Ice-drifted fragments which have been dropped in deep water by melting bergs.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, IV. 53. Glittering bergs of ice.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 163. The finer detritus which the berg carries.
1912. Boston Evening Transcript, 24 April, 7/3. Fleet acknowledged that if he had been aided in his observations by a good glass he probably could have spied the berg into which the ship [the Titanic] crashed in time to have warned the bridge to avoid it.
b. Comb., as berg-field, an expanse of ice covered with bergs.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xxiii. 284. On quitting the berg-field, they saw two dovekies in a crack.
