Bread-and-butter
adj, intj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 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 […]"
- 2 Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bread, and, butter.
"bread-and-butter pudding"
- 1 A general saying used to ward off bad luck archaic
- 2 A saying specifically used to ward off bad luck when separating hands to walk either side of a tree archaic
Example
More examples"The English articles are bread-and-butter important. For instance, if I ask my English friend to hold my bag for a while, and then ask to give it back by saying "Give me bag", he'll probably steal the bag of the man standing around because he didn't understand which bag was meant."
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.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.