bread and butter

bread and butter
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bread and butter
1. noun A vital component of something. Bread and butter, as foodstuffs, are considered basic forms of sustenance.
A flourishing stock market is the bread and butter of a successful country.
These so-called "ordinary" employees are the bread and butter of our company. Every single one of them deserves a Christmas bonus!
All of these scheduling conflicts have been disastrous for students and teachers alike. Scheduling truly is the bread and butter of a low-stress semester.
2. noun A job or task that provides one with a steady income.
I'm an artist on the weekends, but being a tutor is my bread and butter.
So many aspiring actors never make it. You're very lucky that acting has been your bread and butter.
Sure, if a 9-to-5 office job were my bread and butter, it would offer some stability, but it would also feel positively stifling.
3. adjective Providing financial stability. The phrase can be hyphenated when used as an adjective.
I love any writing assignment where I can be creative, but I always make sure to pick up some bread-and-butter gigs to pay the bills.
Pop, I know you like fixing up these machines, but you really need a bread-and-butter job that makes you actual money.
My parents are fine with me being an artist part-time because I also have a bread-and-butter office job.
4. adjective Typical or common. The phrase can be hyphenated when used as an adjective.
My sister worries about everything, even the bread-and-butter tasks of everyday life.
They hired me to be a file clerk, so I can only assume that filing paperwork will be one of my bread-and-butter duties.
Kids today need to be taught real bread-and-butter skills, like how to balance a checkbook.
See also: and, bread, butter
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
someone's bread and butter
Fig. someone's basic income; someone's livelihood—the source of one's food. I can't miss another day of work. That's my bread and butter. I worked as a bartender for a year, and it was the tips that were my bread and butter.
See also: and, bread, butter
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
bread and butter
1. 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]
2. Means of livelihood, as in John's job is the family's bread and butter. [First half of 1700s]
3. Ordinary, routine, as in Don't worry about it; this is just a bread and butter assignment. [Second half of 1800s]
See also: and, bread, butter
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
bread and butter
COMMON
1. If something is your bread and butter, it is your most important or only source of income. `Who's your audience?' — `We play maybe a hundred colleges a year. That is our bread and butter.' I think I'm more controlled at work. I have to be; it's my bread and butter. Note: Your bread-and-butter business is the part of your business which produces the main part of your income. It's not exactly thrilling but it's good bread-and-butter work all the same.
2. The bread and butter of a situation or activity is its most basic or important aspects. It's the bread and butter of police work, checking if anybody had seen anything suspicious. Note: You can also talk about bread-and-butter issues or aspects of something. On major bread-and-butter issues, there's little difference between the candidates.
See also: and, bread, butter
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
someone's bread and butter someone's livelihood; routine work to provide an income.
1998 Times It is not that the smaller deal has disappeared—they remain the bread and butter of this industry.
See also: and, bread, butter
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
your ;bread and ;butter the work that somebody does which provides them with enough money to live: He’s written one or two novels but journalism is his bread and butter.
See also: and, bread, butter
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
bread and butter
n. one’s livelihood. It’s bread and butter to me. I have to do it.
See also: and, bread, butter
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
See also:
someone's bread and butter
your bread and butter
break bread with
break bread with (someone)
long bread
brown bread
break bread
be (one's) bread and butter
bread and water
burn (someone or something) to a cinder