bread-and-butter
nounEtymology
Reflecting that bread and butter are archetypally basic foodstuffs (daily necessities) in the places where the English language developed; compare daily bread, put bread on the table, earn one's bread, bread and water (as prisoners' diet or poverty diet), and know which side one's bread is buttered on.
- derived from language developed; compare daily bread
Definitions
Alternative form of bread and butter.
- "Nora!" exclaimed Miss Tilehurst almost severely—the family woman's inherent reverence for the source of bread-and-butter—"the office is his business. My nephew, Mr. Carrados," she explained, "is connected with the paper mills here […]"
Relating to basic sustenance or the requirements for everyday living.
- These road warrior plays were fronted by former semistars like Forrest Tucker or Hugh O'Brian, who had had their bread-and-butter TV shows cancelled. The job could pay $3,000 to $5,000 a week […]
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bread, and, butter.
- bread-and-butter pudding
›+ 2 more definitionsshow fewer
A general saying used to ward off bad luck
A saying specifically used to ward off bad luck when separating hands to walk either side…
A saying specifically used to ward off bad luck when separating hands to walk either side of a tree
The neighborhood
- neighborbread-and-butter issue
- neighborbread-and-butter letter
- neighborbread-and-butter note
- neighborbread-and-butter pickle
- neighborbread-and-butter plate
- neighborbread-and-butter pudding
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for bread-and-butter. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA