bread

[bred]

noun

1. a kind of food made of flour or meal that has been mixed with milk or water, made into a dough or batter, with or without yeast or other leavening agent, and baked.

2. food or sustenance; livelihood.

   to earn one's bread.

3. Slang.,  money.

4. Ecclesiastical.,  the wafer or bread used in a Eucharistic service.

verb (used with object)

1. Cooking.,  to cover with breadcrumbs or meal.

bread

/ brɛd /

noun

1. a food made from a dough of flour or meal mixed with water or milk, usually raised with yeast or baking powder and then baked

2. necessary food; nourishment

   give us our daily bread

3. a slang word for money

4. Christianity a small loaf, piece of bread, or wafer of unleavened bread used in the Eucharist

5. something offered as a means of distracting attention from a problem or grievance

6. See break

7. to do good without expectation of advantage or return

8. to know what to do in order to keep one's advantages

9. to deprive someone of a livelihood

verb

1. (tr) to cover with breadcrumbs before cooking

   breaded veal

Other Word Forms

• breadless adjective
• breadlessness noun
• unbreaded adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of bread¹

before 950; 1950–55 bread for def. 3; Middle English breed, Old English brēad fragment, morsel, bread; cognate with German Brot

Word History and Origins

Origin of bread¹

Old English brēad ; related to Old Norse braud , Old Frisian brād , Old High German brōt

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. know which side one's bread is buttered on, to be aware of those things that are to one's own advantage.

2. take the bread out of someone's mouth, to deprive someone of livelihood.

3. cast one's bread upon the waters, to act generously or charitably with no thought of personal gain.

4. break bread,

   1. to eat a meal, especially in companionable association with others.

   2. to distribute or participate in Communion.

More idioms and phrases containing bread

• break bread
• greatest thing since sliced bread
• know which side of bread is buttered
• take the bread out of someone's mouth

Example Sentences

For Christmas dinner, they toasted moldy bread, and Gibbons surprised everyone with a single can of Spam that they split among everyone.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Arsenal, for instance, used to bemoan its trips to Stoke City, a scrappy, physical team that made set pieces its bread and butter, because it had no hope of winning otherwise.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Lacking panko in my pantry, I sliced some stale Italian bread into cubes and tossed them into a food processor.

Read more on Salon

She regrets she didn't have long enough in 2024 to make her own pitch on bread- and-butter issues like housing, or childcare.

Read more on BBC

Foods like seeds, nuts, whole-grain breads, greens and fruit are good sources of magnesium, she says.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• cabbage 
• dough