snow line
- noun
- /snoʊ laɪn/
- UK
- But closer into the star inside the snow line, the ice will just vaporize and you will form a planet with no water.
- rain/snow line
- snow line back
But closer into the star inside the snow line, the ice will just vaporize and you will form a planet with no water.
- But closer into the star inside the snow line, the ice will just vaporize and you will form a planet with no water.
Examples
-
Somewhere in this rugged mountain countryside, possibly above the snow line, shrouded in mist, the fugitive, John Rambo, is hiding.
-
Kathryn swiveled in the office chair and gazed out at a rising snow line on the outside windowsill.
Fiction book (1998) -
You know, the, uh... Last creatures we saw Were way down below the snow line.
-
We'll be going above the snow line, and well, sometimes it hits unexpectedly.
-
The next morning, looking across to the Panamint Mountains, there was a straight white line as if drawn on the mountains at the snow line.
Blog text (22) -
They were now below the snow line, although just at the base of the mountains and still far from San Bernardino.
Fiction book (1992) -
They must have migrated from much further out, beyond the "snow line."
Blog text (13) -
We hiked up to the snow line, where we could see patches of white remaining on the ground.
-
The snow line was clearly visible as we ascended the mountain, with snow covering the peaks year-round.
-
In summer, the snow line recedes, revealing more rocky terrain as temperatures rise.
How High
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'snow' (the frozen precipitation) combined with 'line' (a boundary or dividing mark) yields the boundary above which snow persists. This conceptual 'imaginary line' is a transparent, cross-linguistic way to describe an elevation limit, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The noun snow line names the invisible border or line on a mountain where snow stays all year. So, it means the height 'above which snow remains on the ground'.