Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Extremely cold; frigid. synonym: cold.
  • noun A warm waterproof overshoe.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining or related to the northern constellations called the Great and Little Bears; hence, pertaining or relating to the north pole or the northern polar regions; northern: as, the arctic circle, region, or sea.
  • Cold; frigid.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The arctic circle.
  • noun U.S. A warm waterproof overshoe.
  • adjective Pertaining to, or situated under, the northern constellation called the Bear; northern; frigid

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Being extremely cold, snowy, or having other properties of extreme winter associated with the Arctic.
  • noun US A warm waterproof overshoe.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to the Arctic
  • noun a waterproof overshoe that protects shoes from water or snow
  • adjective extremely cold
  • noun the regions to the north of the Arctic Circle centered on the North Pole

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration (influenced by Latin arcticus) of Middle English artik, northern, from Medieval Latin articus, from Latin arcticus, from Greek arktikos, from arktos, bear, the northern constellation Ursa Major; see r̥tko- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old French artique, from Ancient Greek ἀρκτικός (arktikos, "of the bear, northern"), a reference to the northerly constellation Ursa Major, from ἄρκτος (arktos, "bear").

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Examples

Comments

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  • I find it hard to believe in the Arctic Sea. Seems like the 'c' goes missing more often than not :-(

    October 6, 2008