bread line
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of bread line
First recorded in 1895–1900
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
My pal Tan Vinh tells me the bread line at Q Bakery is a sight to see on weekends.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 15, 2023
Her son was already on the bread line but the cost of living crisis has plunged him into poverty, she said.
From BBC • Apr. 16, 2022
His first entrée into politics comes when he’s plucked from a bread line and offered $2 to fraudulently vote for the incumbent mayor.
From Slate • Mar. 30, 2021
When the two are ordered to compete on the same story — winner scores job, loser hits bread line — the sparks fly.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 10, 2018
If I weren’t haunted by these continual pictures of our offspring in the bread line, I should be rather glad than otherwise that she’s shaken us all till we get our breath back.
From Turn About Eleanor by Cootes, F. Graham
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
