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icebreaker

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Acronyms, Wikipedia 0.02 sec.
icebreaker, ship of special hull design and wide beam, with relatively flat bottom, designed to force its way through ice. When the icebreaker charges into the ice at full speed, its sharply inclined bow, meeting the edge of the ice, rises upon it, and the weight of the vessel causes the ice to collapse. A well-designed icebreaker is able to force its way through ice up to 35-ft (10.7-m) thick. In many northern seaports, especially in Russia, Canada, and the Great Lakes area of the United States, water-borne traffic in winter is only possible with the use of icebreakers. Icebreakers have been widely used in the exploration of the Arctic and the Antarctic. The first notable icebreaker was the Pilot (1870), used to maintain communication between Kronstadt and St. Petersburg. In 1959, the Soviet Union launched the first nuclear-powered icebreaker, the Lenin.
icebreaker
1. a vessel with a reinforced bow for breaking up the ice in bodies of water to keep channels open for navigation
2. any tool or device for breaking ice into smaller pieces

(security, jargon)icebreaker - A program designed for cracking security on a system.

See also: ICE.


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While aboard the polar icebreaker, which traveled north in the Bering Sea, Janes saw firsthand the effects of global warming on the Arctic region (see pp.
At meetings, we start out with an icebreaker like Mad Libs," says 26-year-old 20something president George Cofone.
To find out, I joined Jackie Grebmeier and Lee Cooper, scientists at the University of Tennessee, on the Healy icebreaker as they searched for answers.
 
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