Ice (1 syl.)

To break the ice. To broach a disagreeable subject; to open the way. In allusion to breaking ice for bathers. (Latin, scinʹdere glaciem; Italian, romper il giaocio.) (Anglo-Saxon, is.)

“[We] Anʹ if you break the ice, and do this feat … .

Will not so graceless be, to be ingrate.”

Shakespeare: Taming of the Shreu, i. 2.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.