meat-and-potatoes
or meat-and-po·ta·to
[meet-n-puh-tey-tohz, -tuh z]
- fundamental; down-to-earth; basic: What are the meat-and-potatoes issues of the election?
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Origin of meat-and-potatoes
First recorded in 1945–50
meat and potatoes
- the essential or basic part: Community service is the meat and potatoes of this program.
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Origin of meat and potatoes
probably earlier than 1950–55
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
profound, necessary, key, integral, needed, fundamental, indispensable, crucial, urgent, important, imperative, critical, significant, basic, decisive, meaningful, major, paramount, constitutional, elementalExamples from the Web for meat-and-potatoes
Contemporary Examples
Think of what a meat-and-potatoes Democrat like Ed Rendell would do in the job.
A meat-and-potatoes Democrat like Ed Rendell would make jobs and the economy the true top priority of his administration.
Idioms and Phrases with meat-and-potatoes
meat and potatoes
The fundamental part or parts of something, as in This paragraph is the meat and potatoes of the contract. This metaphoric term transfers what some regard as basic fare to the basics of an issue. [Mid-1900s]
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.