supper

(if you) sing before breakfast, (you'll) cry before supper

1. proverb If one is too joyous or optimistic at the start of the day, one runs the risk of having a far fouler mood by the end of it. The grumpy old man, ever intolerant of others' happiness, scolded the girl humming to herself, saying, "If you sing before breakfast, you'll cry before supper!" A: "I thought the day was going to turn out so well, but everything has gone wrong!" B: "Ah, well, sing before breakfast, cry before supper."
2. proverb One should not celebrate one's achievements before one's business has actually begun. A: "This new product is going to launch our company back to the forefront of the industry!" B: "Maybe let's wait until it's actually on the market before patting ourselves on the back. If you sing before breakfast, you'll cry before supper."
See also: before, cry, sing, supper

fix (something) for breakfast/lunch/dinner/etc.

To make or prepare some dish for a particular meal. I'm fixing spaghetti and meatballs for dinner tonight. We better get out of here if Aunt Louise is fixing something for supper—you know she can't cook.
See also: breakfast, dinner, fix, lunch

hope is a good breakfast but a bad supper

proverb Optimism is best-suited to the start of something. Sure, it's OK to feel hopeful now, only a few days into the project. But if you don't have results as it wraps up, get ready for disappointment—after all, hope is a good breakfast but a bad supper.
See also: bad, breakfast, but, good, hope, supper

Last Supper

1. The last meal that Jesus shared with his disciples before his crucifixion, which some Christians believe instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist. In this usage, the phrase is usually capitalized We celebrate the Last Supper by going to Mass on Holy Thursday.
2. The last meal before something significant. A: "Thanks for coming to my last supper." B: "Oh, stop! I'm sure your surgery tomorrow will go fine." I can't believe this is my last supper as a single guy!
See also: last, supper

Lord's Supper

1. Another term for the Last Supper, the last meal that Jesus shared with his disciples before his crucifixion, which some Christians believe instituted the sacrament of Eucharist. We celebrate the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday.
2. The sacrament of Eucharist. Now that you've made your First Holy Communion, you can receive the Lord's Supper during Mass.
See also: supper

shoot (one's) supper

To shoot an animal that will be prepared as one's evening meal. We grew up on our own out in the wilds of the Appalachians, so shooting our supper wasn't anything we ever questioned.
See also: shoot, supper

sing for (one's) supper

To obtain something by working for it or by providing another service in return. You're welcome to stay with us on the farm as long as you like, but you'll have to sing for your supper while you're here.
See also: sing, supper
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

Hope is a good breakfast but a bad supper.

Prov. It is good to start the day feeling hopeful, but if none of the things you hope for come to pass by the end of the day, you will feel disappointed. (Can be used to warn someone against hoping for something that is unlikely to happen.) Lisa began the day hoping that she would find work, and by the end of the day she had learned that hope is a good breakfast but a bad supper.
See also: bad, breakfast, but, good, hope, supper

shoot one's cookies

 and shoot one's breakfast; shoot one's supper
Sl. to empty one's stomach; to vomit. I think I'm gonna shoot my cookies. I shot my supper, and I was glad to get rid of it.
See also: cooky, shoot

sing before breakfast, you'll cry before night

 and sing before breakfast, you'll cry before supper
Prov. If you wake up feeling very happy, your mood will change before the end of the day. Jill: I woke up in such a good mood today. I don't even know why, but everything seems good. Jane: Sing before breakfast, you'll cry before night. Alan: Good morning, dear! Isn't it a wonderful day? I feel great. Jane: Sing before breakfast, you'll cry before supper.
See also: before, cry, night, sing
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

sing for one's supper

Work for one's pay or reward, as in Entertaining visiting scientists is part of the job; you know I have to sing for my supper . This metaphoric term alludes to wandering minstrels who performed in taverns and were paid with a meal. First recorded in 1609, it gained currency with the familiar nursery rhyme, "Little Tommy Tucker, sings for his supper" (c. 1744).
See also: sing, supper
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

sing for your supper

OLD-FASHIONED
If you have to sing for your supper, you have to do a particular job before you are allowed to do or have something that you want. `Might you give me their number, Helena?' She took a while to answer. `Very well,' she said finally. `But you'll have to sing for your supper.'
See also: sing, supper
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

sing for your supper

earn a benefit or favour by providing a service in return.
This phrase comes from the nursery rhyme Little Tommy Tucker.
See also: sing, supper
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

sing for your ˈsupper

(old-fashioned) do something for somebody in order to get what you want or need: Susan has to clean her room before she’s allowed to go out with her friends — she really has to sing for her supper!
See also: sing, supper
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

shoot one’s cookies

and shoot one’s breakfast and shoot one’s supper
tv. to empty one’s stomach; to vomit. I shot my supper, and I was glad to get rid of it. Whoa! I think I’m gonna shoot my cookies!
See also: cooky, shoot

shoot one’s supper

verb
See shoot one’s cookies
See also: shoot, supper
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

sing for one's supper

Work in order to be paid. This metaphor, alluding to the wandering minstrels who performed in English taverns and were paid with a meal, also appears in the familiar nursery rhyme, “Little Tommy Tucker sings for his supper, What shall we give him? White bread and butter,” published in Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book (ca. 1744). The expression is older still, appearing in Beaumont and Fletcher’s play The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1609, 2:2): “Let him stay at home and sing for his supper.”
See also: sing, supper
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • as one door closes, another (one) opens
  • as one door closes, another one opens
  • as one door closes, another opens
  • as one man
  • give (someone) an inch and (someone) (will) take a mile
  • give (someone) an inch and (someone) (will) take a yard
  • drive (one) out of office
  • force (one) out of office
  • force out of office
  • give (one) (one's) head
References in classic literature
"I'll get Aunt Olivia to ask her to let you have your supper with us," said Cecily.
The Golden Road
Chowder for breakfast, and chowder for dinner, and chowder for supper, till you began to look for fish-bones coming through your clothes.
Moby Dick I LXVII
Then we lit the lantern, and squatted down to supper.
Three Men In A Boat
"I think, madam," said the lady, "it would be rather breakfast than supper; but I can't eat anything; and, if I stay, shall only lie down for an hour or two.
The History of Tom Jones a Foundling
He did not want to have to dress and go out to supper, but there was something almost pleading in the eyes that looked at him between the sharply-pointed knees.
Uneasy Money
I sat down at the supper table last night at Riddle's, and I looked at Rosy, and I says to myself, 'Chunk, if you get the girl get her on the square--don't try any hocus-pocus with a thoroughbred like her.' And I keeps the paper you give me in my pocket.
The Four Million
Ethan, supposing the discussion to be over, had turned to go down to supper. He stopped short, not grasping what he heard.
Ethan Frome
I beg your pardon, monsieur; I forgot it is I who engage you at supper, and that I speak to a future cardinal."
The Man in the Iron Mask
With it was effaced the last trace of the preceding night; and then supper, Sinbad, hashish, statues, -- all became a dream for Franz.
Count of Monte Cristo
It was only a few steps up the hill, and they found themselves then in a supper place of a very different class.
The Illustrious Prince
All I can tell you is that she left Dorset House in a hansom without the others, and said some thing about having supper with some friends."
The Yellow Crayon
'I wish somebody would give you your supper,' returned Short, 'for there'll be no peace till you've got it.
The Old Curiosity Shop
Perhaps I'll come and sit with you at supper. We'll have another dispute.
War and Peace
But his mother threw down her knitting, and, hurrying after him, took hold of his arm, and said, in a tone of plaintive remonstrance, "Nay, my lad, my lad, thee munna go wi'out thy supper; there's the taters wi' the gravy in 'em, just as thee lik'st 'em.
Adam Bede
Weston proposed having no regular supper; merely sandwiches,
Emma