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• bacon
  bacon

  noun

  the back and sides of the hog, salted and dried or smoked, usually sliced thin and fried for food.
• Bacon
  Bacon

  noun

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

bacon

¹ American  

[bay-kuhn] / ˈbeɪ kən /

noun

• bacon
  plural

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.

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idioms

1. bring home the bacon,

   1. to provide for material needs; earn a living.

   2. 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, to allow one to accomplish a desired end; spare one from injury or loss.

   Quick thinking saved our bacon.

Bacon ² American  

[bay-kuhn] / ˈbeɪ kən /

noun

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

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

3. Henry, 1866–1924, U.S. architect.

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

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

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bacon ¹ British  

/ ˈbeɪkən /

noun

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

2. informal

   1. to achieve success

   2. to provide material support

3. informal to help someone to escape from danger

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Bacon ² British  

/ 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

3. 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

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Bacon Scientific  

/ bā′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.

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bacon More Idioms  

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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• bacon
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of bacon

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

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Explanation

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bacon Bacon

It’s finely chopped lettuce, cheese, smoked bacon, grilled chicken, avocado, beets and egg.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2026

Instead the AI invented several bizarre concoctions, from bacon and eggs floating in a glass of cola - a confusion between "soda" and "soda bread" - to chips poking out of muffins.

From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026

Like many on Martha’s Vineyard, a resort island off Cape Cod that’s teeming with ticks this year, I bid a sad farewell to hamburgers, bacon and lamb chops.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026

LOS ANGELES—I was eating my second piece of hot honey and cracked black-pepper bacon in American Airlines’ Flagship Lounge when an employee popped by.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

Lights were already on in the kitchen, and when our neighbor let us in, we could smell bacon cooking.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson

"There's a bunch of us have been talking about it," Bacon told CNN, urging Hegseth to resign.

From Barron's ● Nov. 9, 2026

He added Cheryl Bacon, head of Badenoch's parliamentary office, said the emails were "disgusting" and "distressing" to read.

From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2026

Mr. Bacon is the author of 14 books on sports and business and of “The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

Martha Plimpton, never not great, plays Faye, a madam for whom Cathy works; and Zoe Phillips makes an impression in her scattered scenes as Abra Bacon, who’ll date Aron but feels connected to Cal.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

Mayor Grabarek ended the meeting by postponing any decision on the Bacon Street project and appointing a committee to look into black demands.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

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Related Words

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