the back and sides of the hog, salted and dried or smoked, usually sliced thin and fried for food.
Also called white bacon. South Midland and Southern U.S. pork cured in brine; salt pork.
bring home the bacon,
to provide for material needs; earn a living.
to accomplish a task; be successful or victorious.
Our governor went to Washington to appeal for disaster relief and brought home the bacon—$40 million.
save one's bacon, to allow one to accomplish a desired end; spare one from injury or loss.
Quick thinking saved our bacon.
Francis Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Albans, 1561–1626, English essayist, philosopher, and statesman.
Francis, 1910–92, English painter, born in Ireland.
Henry, 1866–1924, U.S. architect.
Nathaniel, 1647–76, American colonist, born in England: leader of a rebellion in Virginia 1676.
Roger The Admirable Doctor, 1214?–94?, English philosopher and scientist.
meat from the back and sides of a pig, dried, salted, and usually smoked
informal
to achieve success
to provide material support
informal to help someone to escape from danger
Francis , Baron Verulam, Viscount St Albans. 1561–1626, English philosopher, statesman, and essayist; described the inductive method of reasoning: his works include Essays (1625), The Advancement of Learning (1605), and Novum Organum (1620)
Francis . 1909–92, British painter, born in Dublin, noted for his distorted, richly coloured human figures, dogs, and carcasses
Roger . ?1214–92, English Franciscan monk, scholar, and scientist: stressed the importance of experiment, demonstrated that air is required for combustion, and first used lenses to correct vision. His Opus Majus (1266) is a compendium of all the sciences of his age
1300–50; Middle English bacoun < Anglo-French; Old French bacon < Germanic *bakōn- ( Old High German bacho back, ham, bacon) derivative of *baka- back 1; compare Middle Dutch bake bacon
Bacon is a thin, salty meat product that's often served beside eggs at breakfast. Some people like their bacon cooked until it's crispy. If you're a vegetarian, you might order a BLT and say, "Hold the bacon, please." Bacon comes from the belly or the sides of a pig, and it's typically swirled with fat, cured or smoked, and very flavorful. The word and the food have been around since at least the early 14th century, from a Proto-Germanic root, bakkon, or "back meat." Since the early 1900s, "bringing home the bacon" has been slang for earning a living.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The series of 10 red horizontal stripes was first found on the wall of a side chamber of Bacon Hole cave in Gower, Swansea, in 1912, before being dismissed years later as a natural phenomenon.
From BBC • Jun. 1, 2026
The Bacon Hole discovery came a decade after Nash found a reindeer engraved on the wall of a cave nearby, which was confirmed in 2012 as the then-oldest known rock art in Britain in 2012.
From BBC • Jun. 1, 2026
To give a few examples, Salted Fudge is described as “classic, decadent & dominating,” while Maple Bacon is touted as “sweet, smoky & sigma.”
From Salon • May 23, 2026
The Order: The Tuna Bacon B.L.T. features smoked tuna, thinly sliced and griddled until crisp.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 9, 2026
Mrs. Bacon was saying, “My husband has served on his school board for many years—” but Adam didn’t hear the discussion that followed.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
