staff of life

American  

noun

1. bread, considered as the mainstay of the human diet.

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staff of life Cultural  

1. A basic staple food, such as bread, rice, or potatoes: “Rice is the staff of life in eastern Asia.”

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staff of life Idioms  

1. A staple or necessary food, especially bread. For example, Rice is the staff of life for a majority of the earth's people. This expression, which uses staff in the sense of “a support,” was first recorded in 1638.

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Etymology

Origin of staff of life

First recorded in 1630–40

Example Sentences

The staff of life is the stuff to like at Michele’s.

From Washington Post

Bread, as the Old Testament and countless scribes have told us, is the staff of life.

From Washington Post

A chef-server shows off a mill and bowls of bran and flour that demonstrate why the staff of life is the stuff we like.

From Washington Post

“O conversation the staff of life,” the young T. S. Eliot wrote to his Harvard friend and fellow poet Conrad Aiken in 1914.

From New York Times

But she sees, even through that lens of restriction, the fundamental truth and necessity of the staff of life.

From The New Yorker