bread and butter
bread spread with butter.
a basic means of support; source of livelihood; sustenance: The automobile industry is the bread and butter of many Detroiters.
Origin of bread and butter
1Words Nearby bread and butter
Other definitions for bread-and-butter (2 of 2)
providing a livelihood or basic source of income; supplying the basic needs of life: a bread-and-butter job; the agency's bread-and-butter account.
of or relating to basic needs: housing and other bread-and-butter political issues.
basic or everyday; staple; routine.
expressing thanks for hospitality: a bread-and-butter letter.
Origin of bread-and-butter
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use bread and butter in a sentence
“I knew Boyfriend would never really have its chance unless it became my bread-and-butter,” she says.
Get immigration done and the party will be able to compete again on bread-and-butter issues with most of the electorate.
Marco Rubio’s Big Moment Could Come With Immigration Reform | David Freedlander | January 30, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTIt's easy to see how a governor with a proven track record and a focus on bread-and-butter issues could do well.
Isnt anything but bread-and-butter, and such things, appealing to you in life, child?
The Girls of Central High on the Stage | Gertrude W. MorrisonPaul went on talking in a quiet, low tone, while Digby was munching a thick slice of bread-and-butter.
Digby Heathcote | W.H.G. Kingston
In an incautious moment, influenced by the idea of saving her bread-and-butter, Mrs Pike gave up the key.
Digby Heathcote | W.H.G. KingstonPhebe, do you think there's any chance of cook's giving us some cake, or even some bread-and-butter, to take with us?'
Robin Redbreast | Mary Louisa MolesworthBut I meant that Algernon has shown his sense in not selecting a bread-and-butter Miss.
A Charming Fellow, Volume II (of 3) | Frances Eleanor Trollope
British Dictionary definitions for bread and butter
/ informal /
(modifier) a means of support or subsistence; livelihood: the inheritance was their bread and butter
bread-and-butter
providing a basic means of subsistence: a bread-and-butter job
solid, reliable, or practical: a bread-and-butter player
expressing gratitude, as for hospitality (esp in the phrase bread-and-butter letter)
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
Other Idioms and Phrases with bread and butter
The essential, sustaining element, as in The quality of the schools is the bread and butter of town property values. This idiom alludes to a basic food, bread spread with butter. [c. 1700]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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