Origin
This phrase possibly comes from specialized ships designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, called icebreaker ships. With their strengthened hull, ice clearing shape, and the great power, they are able to pass through ice-covered water. Using the immense weight and powerful momentum of the ship, the bow is driven up on top of the ice. The ice cannot hold the weight of the ship's bow, resulting in the ice breaking beneath the ship.
Now these ships were made for breaking actual ice, but what about the figurative use of the phrase? For some, or maybe even most, meeting some new stranger might be a little awkward. The both of you don't know each other, so you don't really know what to talk about or what to say. The atmosphere around the two might be described as cold. To get things moving along, you may try and break that cold and uncomfortable atmosphere by bringing up something you might feel is interesting. In doing so, just like an icebreaking ship, you are breaking through that freezing social ice.
The phrase was used as early as 1678, with the same meaning as today. It was written in a poem by Samuel Butler, entitled Hudibras:
"To give himself first audience,
After he had a while look'd wise,
At last broke silence, and the ice."
Examples of The Phrase Being Used
"Carl introduced me to his new friend this morning. I felt a little uneasy at first, but the ice was quickly broken when we all went to the movies."
"I was set to give a speech to a group of people I've never seen before in my entire life! When I got up on stage, I was so nervous and everyone was so quiet. The speech I wrote started off with a joke to break the ice.
Note: For most old phrases, sayings, and idioms, finding the exact person or date in which a phrase was originated is impossible. What's provided is the earliest known date the phrase or saying was being used in.
Usually the phrase is a quote from an old newspaper, book, poem, play, etc. If it is already being used by a newspaper though, then the saying must already be common knowledge among the people of that time. This means the origin of the saying is older.
For instance, if someone or something from 1660 is being quoted using a particular phrase or saying, you can assume that the saying must be older, as it's already popular and being commonly used in 1660. How far back varies from phrase to phrase.
There are some cases though where determining the origin from an exact person is possible, however these are not common. In short, most of the origins for these sayings give you a date so you can get a rough idea on when these phrases were being used.
