Dictionary

breadliner en · NOUN

Etymology

From breadline + -er.

Meanings

1. Someone who lives at the poverty level.
   • He looks vaguely charmed to meet a bona fide plebeian; a real-life breadliner. 2009, Maria Roberts, Single Mother on the Verge:
   • After all the breadline makes breadliners. 1975, Alex Baskin, The Unemployed (1930-1932), page 4:
   • Hannah Hill Chaplin's precipitous decline from headliner to breadliner was a devastating defeat for the formerly “light-hearted and gay” music hall comedienne, better known to her fans and admirers as "that charming little chanter, Lillie Harley" — or Lily Harley, the usual spelling. 2011, Stephen Weissman, Chaplin: A Life:

Forms