fiord

noun

1. (New-Zealand, alt-of, alternative)Alternative spelling of fjord.

   “At last one gave a deep groan, and another declared that the spirits of the fiord were against them, and there was no doubt that their boat was now lying twenty fathoms deep, at the bottom of the creek; drawn down by the strong hand of an angry water-spirit. [...] Another said he would not go till he had looked abroad over the fiord, for some chance of seeing the boat.”

   “Disenchantment Bay, as the Yakutat Bay inlet is called north of Point Latouche, is bordered on the east by the steep hills of the peninsula and on the west by the main mountain front. Its coast is precipitous and through nearly its entire length it is a true mountain-walled fiord. The two mountain walls approach each other at Point Latouche almost at right angles, and Disenchantment Bay enters between them with a nearly north-south axis.”

   “At the head of the fiord, and along its sides, can still be seen the hulks of German destroyers and submarines. These sought shelter in this secluded spot, but the British Navy sought them out and sank them.”

   “Fiords are glacially carved oceanic intrusions into land. They are often deep and narrow with a sill in the mouth. Waters from neighboring seas and locally supplied fresh water fill up the fiords, often leading to strong stratification. Fiords with tidewater glaciers also contain glacial ice. During transport into and stay in the fiord, mixing processes modify the properties of imported water masses.”