bacon

[ bey-kuhn ]
See synonyms for bacon on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the back and sides of the hog, salted and dried or smoked, usually sliced thin and fried for food.

  2. Also called white bacon. South Midland and Southern U.S. pork cured in brine; salt pork.

Idioms about bacon

  1. 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.

  2. save one's bacon, Informal. to allow one to accomplish a desired end; spare one from injury or loss: Quick thinking saved our bacon.

Origin of bacon

1
1300–50; Middle English bacoun<Anglo-French; Old French bacon<Germanic *bakōn- (Old High German bacho back, ham, bacon) derivative of *baka-back1; compare Middle Dutch bake bacon

Words Nearby bacon

Other definitions for Bacon (2 of 2)

Bacon
[ bey-kuhn ]

noun
  1. Francis Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Albans, 1561–1626, English essayist, philosopher, and statesman.

  2. Francis, 1910–92, English painter, born in Ireland.

  1. Henry, 1866–1924, U.S. architect.

  2. Nathaniel, 1647–76, American colonist, born in England: leader of a rebellion in Virginia 1676.

  3. Roger "The Admirable Doctor", 1214?–94?, English philosopher and scientist.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bacon in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for bacon (1 of 2)

bacon

/ (ˈbeɪkən) /


noun
  1. meat from the back and sides of a pig, dried, salted, and usually smoked

  2. bring home the bacon informal

    • to achieve success

    • to provide material support

  1. save someone's bacon British informal to help someone to escape from danger

Origin of bacon

1
C12: from Old French bacon, from Old High German bahho; related to Old Saxon baco; see back 1

British Dictionary definitions for Bacon (2 of 2)

Bacon

/ (ˈbeɪkən) /


noun
  1. 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)

  2. Francis . 1909–92, British painter, born in Dublin, noted for his distorted, richly coloured human figures, dogs, and carcasses

  1. 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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for Bacon

Bacon

[ kən ]


  1. English scientist and philosopher who is noted for the wide range of his knowledge and writing on scientific topics. Bacon pioneered the idea that mathematics is fundamental to science and that experimentation is essential to test scientific theories.

biography For Bacon

Roger Bacon was something of a Renaissance man before there was a Renaissance. Over the course of his long life, his energetic research would lead him to study everything from languages to mathematics to optics. He is most remembered for his insistence on the importance of pursuing fruitful lines of scientific research through experimentation. His writings describe countless experiments; while the majority were probably never performed by him, the profusion alone of experimental ideas is nothing short of astounding. His own laboratory work dealt primarily with alchemy, optics, and mechanics. He was among the first to apply geometric and mathematical principles to problems in optics and the behavior of light, allowing him to make important observations on reflection and refraction. His interest in mechanics led him to describe flying machines and other devices that had not yet been invented. He was the first person in the West to come up with a recipe for gunpowder, and he suggested reforms to the calendar, which would ultimately be implemented hundreds of years later. His novel ways of pursuing knowledge were sometimes viewed with suspicion, resulting at one time in imprisonment; but he bravely resisted all strictures on his intellectual life, even when that meant having to write and work in secret.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Other Idioms and Phrases with bacon

bacon

see bring home the bacon; save one's bacon.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.