bread and butter

See synonyms for bread and butter on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. bread spread with butter.

  2. a basic means of support; source of livelihood; sustenance: The automobile industry is the bread and butter of many Detroiters.

Origin of bread and butter

1
First recorded in 1620–30

Other definitions for bread-and-butter (2 of 2)

bread-and-butter
[ bred-n-buht-er ]

adjective
  1. providing a livelihood or basic source of income; supplying the basic needs of life: a bread-and-butter job; the agency's bread-and-butter account.

  2. of or relating to basic needs: housing and other bread-and-butter political issues.

  1. basic or everyday; staple; routine.

  2. expressing thanks for hospitality: a bread-and-butter letter.

Origin of bread-and-butter

2
First recorded in 1720–30; adj. use of noun phrase bread and butter

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for bread and butter

bread and butter

/ informal /


noun
  1. (modifier) a means of support or subsistence; livelihood: the inheritance was their bread and butter

  2. bread-and-butter

    • providing a basic means of subsistence: a bread-and-butter job

    • solid, reliable, or practical: a bread-and-butter player

    • expressing gratitude, as for hospitality (esp in the phrase bread-and-butter letter)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with bread and butter

bread and butter

The essential, sustaining element, as in The quality of the schools is the bread and butter of town property values. This idiom alludes to a basic food, bread spread with butter. [c. 1700]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.