bring home the bacon

Idioms  

1. Earn a living, provide the necessities of life, as in Now that she had a job, Patricia could bring home the bacon .

2. 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.

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Example Sentences

"He's going to bring home the bacon," he said from the Oval Office, "even though bacon isn't too big in Israel. I had to clear that up."

From BBC • Apr. 10, 2025

So too, a wife may be more attracted by a potential spouse who shares her interests, rather than one offering only to bring home the bacon.

From New York Times • Nov. 23, 2021

“She’s been my biggest encouragement. She could have easily said ‘No, you stay at the factory, and you just bring home the bacon, buddy.’

From Washington Times • Jan. 12, 2020

Valadao tried to focus his campaign on his efforts to bring home the bacon with his seat on the Appropriations Committee and to scale back environmental protections so farmers would have more access to water.

From Washington Post • Nov. 28, 2018

You'll have to bring home the bacon, do the cooking and so on, and see what you can find along the line of edible roots, grains, fruits, and what-not.

From Spacehounds of IPC by Smith, E. E. (Edward Elmer)