bread and butter

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.
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.
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.
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.
See also: and, bread, butter
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

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.

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.

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.

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

your ˌbread and ˈbutter

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

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
See also:
  • someone's bread and butter
  • your bread and butter
  • break bread
  • bread is the staff of life
  • long bread
  • break bread with
  • break bread with (someone)
  • brown bread
  • eat the bread of idleness
  • idleness
References in periodicals archive
Ingredients: 7 slices of bread and butter ;1 litre milk; 4oz sugar; 4oz raisins (oryou can use chunks of chocolate); 3 eggs.
Our Family favourite
Along with bread and butter, we need time to plant and pick and prune and smell the roses.
What's the hurry?
Cut out large circles of bread with a pastry cutter, so you have nine chocolate round circles of bread and butter.
ANN EVANS'S COLUMN WEEKEND FOOD: JAMIES DISH
"There was an opportunity to incorporate something into a bread machine that would appeal to the consumer's need for freshness." She called the appeal of fresh bread and butter unsurpassed.
Toastmaster knows where its bread's buttered
Thank goodness we got a wee bit more than a last crust at Siobhan's, huge pots of bubbling Irish stew, meltingly soft potato bread dripping in butter and the most delicious bread and butter pudding flavoured with the finest Irish whiskey.
food
BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING Ingredients (serves 4) 5 thin slices of white bread 75g butter 100g sultanas 220ml cream 220ml m ilk 50g sugar 1 vanilla pod split and seeds removed 3 eggs 25g icing sugar 50g marmalade Method 1.
Butter the mup; Breadandbutter puddingmaybean oldiebutitisstill verymuchagoodie atHeathcotes
And, although my mum has not been with us for some 20 years now, just the sight of a bread and butter pudding brings back memories of the days when a wonderful feast would miraculously appear on the table every Sunday followed by this amazing pudding.
Our Family Favourite; Food & Drink
One of the most important things in a good bread and butter pudding is not too much bread.
dining: DATE BREAD & BUTTER PUDDING & TOFFEE CUSTARD; eating in Each week we bring you a cut-out-and-keep recipe from top chef KEVIN ASHTON, who has cooked for American presidents and Hollywood movie stars
Without doubt my favourite 'nursery' pudding has to be bread and butter pudding.
Back to the nursery
"I remember Princess Diana saying to me on more than one occasion, 'Darren, you make the best Bread and Butter pudding in the whole world'.
Princely puddings; Just like us, it seems the royals love nothing more than a delicious dessert to round off dinner. Here, royal chef Darren McGrady, shares some of their favourites.