Picture a sea frozen over, with a ship pushing its heavy bow up onto the ice until the ice cracks and a lane of open water opens behind it. Nothing could move before; now everything can follow. An icebreaker is whatever gives that first hard push — a ship through real ice, a game through a silent room, a loud opening number through a restless audience.
可以想成一片結冰的海面。一艘船用厚重的船頭壓上冰層，冰裂開，後面就留下一條水道。本來什麼都動不了，現在後面的船都能跟著走。icebreaker 可以想成負責「第一下」的那個東西。在海上，它是真的破冰的船。在一個安靜的房間裡，它是那個讓大家開口的小遊戲。在劇場裡，它是把場子炒開的開場歌舞。
From the word’s history
The word is simply ice + breaker, and it named the ship first. English already had the expression break the ice for easing a stiff situation, and the noun was carried over to the thing that does that.
這個字就是 ice（冰）加 breaker（把東西弄破的人或機器），最早指的是破冰船。英文本來就有 break the ice 這個說法，用來講化解僵局。名詞 icebreaker 後來被借去指做這件事的東西。
Wiktionary, "icebreaker"
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