bread-and-butter letter

Idioms  

1. 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]

---

Example Sentences

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

From Book of Etiquette, Volume 2 by Watson, Lillian Eichler

"A bread-and-butter letter; Mother says it's all right."

From Marjorie at Seacote by Wells, Carolyn

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.

From Dear Enemy by Webster, Jean

He had arrived at this extreme before he received the note from Mrs. Birkwall, which she made his prompt bread-and-butter letter the excuse of writing him.

From A Pair of Patient Lovers by Howells, William Dean

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

From The Secret of a Happy Home (1896) by Harland, Marion