bring home the bacon
Idioms-
Earn a living, provide the necessities of life, as in Now that she had a job, Patricia could bring home the bacon .
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Be successful, accomplish something of value, as in George went to Washington and brought home the bacon—he got the funding we needed . Although the earliest citation for this phrase in the Oxford English Dictionary dates from 1924, the term is widely believed to come from the much older game of catching a greased pig, a popular competition at country fairs in which the winner was awarded the pig.
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.
“And that is a big difference in making sure that we can bring home the bacon to the people who are counting on us.”
From Washington Post
The old cliche description of a lawmaker’s job was “bringing home the bacon,” and virtually all senators were carnivores.
From Washington Post
I know he feels responsible for making the numbers, bringing home the bacon, just as I feel responsible for our cooking it right and maintaining our happy home life.
From Seattle Times
That has not made the network's remaining journalists popular with Trump's faithful because sadly, it's the anger-stoking lies and hyperbole that bring home the bacon for Fox.
From Salon
If they can't bring home the bacon, plant-based meat could be the next best thing, sales suggest.
From Fox News
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.
