[Ads-l] stoss

[Barretts Mail]

"Waterlines: Seattle Geology” (https://www.hiddenhydrology.org/waterlines-seattle-geology/ <https://www.hiddenhydrology.org/waterlines-seattle-geology/>) talks about the stoss and lee sides of a drumlin.

About the word “stoss,” the OED says: “Designating the side of any object that faces a flow of ice or water; also transferred.”

I don’t think that’s correct since all faces of an object over which a glacier has passed would qualify.

Merriam-Webster (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stoss <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stoss>) says: “facing toward the direction from which an overriding glacier impinges” (and it’s because of abstruse definitions like this that I have always tried to avoid M-W).

Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stoss <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stoss>) seems a little better: "Facing towards the flow of a glacier or fluid”

This is similar to the OED definition but shouldn’t “towards” be “against”?

Collins (https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/stoss <https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/stoss>) seems the best: "(of the side of a hill, crag, etc) facing the onward flow of a glacier or the direction in which a former glacier flowed”

Benjamin Barrett (he/his/him)
Formerly of Seattle, WA


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