Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A sturdy ship built for breaking a passage through icebound waters.
- noun A protective pier or dock apron used as a buffer against floating ice.
- noun Something done or said to relax an unduly formal atmosphere or situation.
- noun A beginning; a start.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A structure of masonry or timber (as a pier or row of piles) for the protection of bridge-piers or of vessels in dock from moving ice.
- noun An ice-boat for breaking channels through ice in a river or harbor.
- noun The bowhead, or great polar whale, Balæna mysticetus: a whalers’ name.
- noun A hand- or power-machine for breaking ice into small fragments for various uses.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun a ship with a reinforced bow and powerful engines designed to break up layers of ice on waterways and keep channels open for navigation.
- noun A remark or action intended to relieve tension or reduce formality when initiating conversation or beginning a speech; it is often a humorous or light remark.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
ship designed tobreak throughice so that it, or other ships coming behind, cannavigate onfrozen seas . - noun A
game ,activity , humorousanecdote , etc., designed torelax agroup of people to help them get to know each other.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a ship with a reinforced bow to break up ice and keep channels open for navigation
- noun a beginning that relaxes a tense or formal atmosphere
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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* An Arctic icebreaker is sliced in half by said hockey stick.
‘Avatar,’ Michael Bay Have Nothing On College Hockey’s Alaska Nanooks » MTV Movies Blog 2010
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In small groups of 5-8, one fun icebreaker is called “2 Truths 1 Lie”.
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Greenpeace's icebreaker is in Buenos Aires, this is not innocent, it is the voice of the environmentalists, ecologists and citizens conscious of taking care of their house.
Global Voices in English » Argentina: Cleaning Up the Riachuelo 2009
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At least one more detachment -- including four destroyers, two "hydrographic vessels" (a cover name for intelligence ships) and even one "icebreaker" -- went through the Turkish straits on May 31
Sultan Knish 2008
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Microsoft: first ad just an "icebreaker" - The first Seinfeld ad that aired Thursday evening is just an
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Microsoft: first ad just an "icebreaker" - The first Seinfeld ad that aired Thursday evening is just an
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Microsoft: first ad just an "icebreaker" - The first Seinfeld ad that aired Thursday evening is just an "icebreaker" that will be backed by more substantive ads in the near future,
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Microsoft: first ad just an "icebreaker" - The first Seinfeld ad that aired Thursday evening is just an
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Twenty sazheni below the icebreaker was a gang of barefooted sailors, engaged in hacking out the floes from under their barges; and as they shattered the brittle, greyish-blue crust on the river, the mattocks rang out, and the sharp blades of the icecutters gleamed as they thrust the broken fragments under the surface.
Through Russia 2003
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Twenty sazheni below the icebreaker was a gang of barefooted sailors, engaged in hacking out the floes from under their barges; and as they shattered the brittle, greyish-blue crust on the river, the mattocks rang out, and the sharp blades of the icecutters gleamed as they thrust the broken fragments under the surface.
Through Russia Maksim Gorky 1902
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