Dictionary

bread-and-butter en · ADJ

Etymology

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.

Meanings

1. Relating to basic sustenance or the requirements for everyday living.
   • These road warrior plays were fronted by former semistars like Forrest Tucker or Hugh O'Brian, who had had their bread-and-butter TV shows cancelled. The job could pay $3,000 to $5,000 a week […] 2015, Robert Crane, Christopher Fryer, Crane: Sex, Celebrity, and My Father's Unsolved Murder, page 34:
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bread, and, butter.
   • bread-and-butter pudding

Forms

bread-and-butter en · INTJ

Etymology

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.

Meanings

1. (archaic) A general saying used to ward off bad luck
2. (archaic) A saying specifically used to ward off bad luck when separating hands to walk either side of a tree

Relateds

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

bread-and-butter en · NOUN

Etymology

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.

Meanings

1. (alt-of, alternative, plural, singular) Alternative form of bread and butter.
   alt of bread and butter
   • "Nora!" exclaimed Miss Tilehurst almost severely—the family woman's inherent reverence for the source of bread-and-butter—"the office is his business. My nephew, Mr. Carrados," she explained, "is connected with the paper mills here […]" 1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London: