Link Centre Dictionary

bread and butter

brea·dand·but·ter

uncommon archaic

noun

1.

the financial means whereby one lives

  • “each child was expected to pay for their keep”
  • “he applied to the state for support”
  • “he could no longer earn his own livelihood”
Synonyms

Origin

Reflecting that bread and butter are archetypally basic foodstuffs (daily necessities) in the places where the English language developed; compare daily bread, put bread on the table, earn one's bread, bread and water (as prisoners' diet or poverty diet), and know which side one's bread is buttered on.

Phrases

  • bread-and-butter issue
  • bread-and-butter letter
  • bread-and-butter note
  • bread-and-butter pickle
  • bread-and-butter plate
  • bread-and-butter pudding

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.