[bred] 
| 1. | a kind of food made of flour or meal that has been mixed with milk or water, made into a dough or batter, with or without yeast or other leavening agent, and baked. |
| 2. | food or sustenance; livelihood: to earn one's bread. |
| 3. | Slang. money. |
| 4. | Ecclesiastical. the wafer or bread used in a Eucharistic service. |
| 5. | Cookery. to cover with breadcrumbs or meal. |
| 6. | break bread,
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| 7. | cast one's bread upon the waters, to act generously or charitably with no thought of personal gain. |
| 8. | know which side one's bread is buttered on, to be aware of those things that are to one's own advantage. |
| 9. | take the bread out of someone's mouth, to deprive someone of livelihood. |
| bread (brěd) n.
To coat with bread crumbs, as before cooking: breaded the fish fillets. [Middle English, from Old English brēad; see bhreu- in Indo-European roots. N., sense 3b, possibly from Cockney rhyming slang bread and honey.] |
bread
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Bread
among the Jews was generally made of wheat (Ex. 29:2; Judg. 6:19), though also sometimes of other grains (Gen. 14:18; Judg. 7:13). Parched grain was sometimes used for food without any other preparation (Ruth 2:14). Bread was prepared by kneading in wooden bowls or "kneading troughs" (Gen. 18:6; Ex. 12:34; Jer. 7:18). The dough was mixed with leaven and made into thin cakes, round or oval, and then baked. The bread eaten at the Passover was always unleavened (Ex. 12:15-20; Deut. 16:3). In the towns there were public ovens, which were much made use of for baking bread; there were also bakers by trade (Hos. 7:4; Jer. 37:21). Their ovens were not unlike those of modern times. But sometimes the bread was baked by being placed on the ground that had been heated by a fire, and by covering it with the embers (1 Kings 19:6). This was probably the mode in which Sarah prepared bread on the occasion referred to in Gen. 18:6. In Lev. 2 there is an account of the different kinds of bread and cakes used by the Jews. (See BAKE.) The shew-bread (q.v.) consisted of twelve loaves of unleavened bread prepared and presented hot on the golden table every Sabbath. They were square or oblong, and represented the twelve tribes of Israel. The old loaves were removed every Sabbath, and were to be eaten only by the priests in the court of the sanctuary (Ex. 25:30; Lev. 24:8; 1 Sam. 21:1-6; Matt. 12:4). The word bread is used figuratively in such expressions as "bread of sorrows" (Ps. 127:2), "bread of tears" (80:5), i.e., sorrow and tears are like one's daily bread, they form so great a part in life. The bread of "wickedness" (Prov. 4:17) and "of deceit" (20:17) denote in like manner that wickedness and deceit are a part of the daily life.
bread
In addition to the idioms beginning with bread, also see break bread; greatest thing since sliced bread; know which side of bread is buttered; take the bread out of someone's mouth.