bread-and-butter letter


A thank-you letter from guest to host. For example, Mother always had to remind the children to send Grandma a bread-and-butter note. [c. 1900]

Words Nearby bread-and-butter letter

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

How to use bread-and-butter letter in a sentence

  • One of these is what a college boy recently described in my hearing as the "bread-and-butter letter."

  • Within ten days after her departure the guest should write a bread-and-butter letter to her hostess.

    Book of Etiquette, Volume 2 | Lillian Eichler Watson
  • Also, I have a polite bread-and-butter letter from my nice young man in Washington, and a book from him, likewise a box of candy.

    Dear Enemy | Jean Webster