bread and butter
1 Americannoun
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bread spread with butter.
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a basic means of support; source of livelihood; sustenance.
The automobile industry is the bread and butter of many Detroiters.
adjective
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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.
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of or relating to basic needs.
housing and other bread-and-butter political issues.
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basic or everyday; staple; routine.
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expressing thanks for hospitality.
a bread-and-butter letter.
noun
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(modifier) a means of support or subsistence; livelihood
the inheritance was their bread and butter
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providing a basic means of subsistence
a bread-and-butter job
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solid, reliable, or practical
a bread-and-butter player
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expressing gratitude, as for hospitality (esp in the phrase bread-and-butter letter )
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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]
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Means of livelihood, as in John's job is the family's bread and butter . [First half of 1700s]
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Ordinary, routine, as in Don't worry about it; this is just a bread and butter assignment . [Second half of 1800s]
Etymology
Origin of bread and butter1
First recorded in 1620–30
Origin of bread-and-butter2
First recorded in 1720–30; adj. use of noun phrase bread and butter
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Roach acknowledges the market’s caution, given large language models are now threatening to do what has been the bread and butter of those companies.
From MarketWatch
“History shows it’s bread and butter issues that typically work best,” he said.
From Salon
When it was put to her that Westminster showed no interest in the request, Morgan said: "I think what people in Wales are concerned with are the bread and butter issues in their daily lives."
From BBC
But messages about the values of imparting empathy are part of the bread and butter of “Star Trek” and she welcomed that.
From Los Angeles Times
He came away from those discussions believing that investors are undervaluing the degree to which AI has made memory, specifically the dynamic random access memory that is Micron’s bread and butter, “a more strategic asset.”
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
