day job

American  

noun

1. one's regular job and main source of income, usually viewed in contrast to a speculative or irregular endeavor.

   Good luck in the lottery, but don't quit your day job.

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Example Sentences

With a tiny team, a day job and the occasional teaching gig, Wicks has found that maintaining the app to the degree in which it can be properly released has not been feasible.

From Los Angeles Times

Despite his glamorous brush with fame, Ellis has not given up the day job, he is still in the driver's seat on a London Underground train.

From BBC

By 1995, success allowed him to give up his day job and focus on cartoons and writing books, including ”The Dilbert Principle,” “Reframe Your Brain: The User Interface for Happiness and Success” and “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life.”

From The Wall Street Journal

The 28-year-old has gone from battling with the likes of Brennan Johnson and Yeremy Pino on Saturday to returning to his day job as a PE teacher at Stamford Park Primary School in Altrincham on Monday.

From BBC

The only way I could get them to talk about their day job was by asking which philosophers they hated the most.

From The Wall Street Journal