bread-and-butter love

bread-and-butter

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Influenced by or undertaken out of necessity.
  • adjective Reliable, especially for producing income; basic.
  • adjective Expressive of gratitude for hospitality.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Used other than as an idiom: see bread,‎ and,‎ butter.
  • adjective Relating to basic sustenance or the requirements for everyday living for the masses.
  • interjection archaic A general saying used to ward off bad luck
  • interjection archaic A saying specifically used to ward off bad luck when separating hands to walk either side of a tree

Etymologies

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Examples

  • In fact, one would be hard pressed to identify a strike in 1919—or any strike in the United States in the twentieth century—that was not for the so-called bread-and-butter objectives of more money and less work.

    A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010

  • They are what Warnock calls his "bread-and-butter players" and their hard-nosed experience has provided Rangers with a spine that had been absent.

    The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed 2011

  • We have a lot to be proud of, from the working people of Wisconsin having the strength and courage to stand up and fight back against a governor and legislature that prioritizes corporate interests over bread-and-butter issues of working families, to the incredible bravery of the women who threw their hats in the ring to take back the Wisconsin Senate.

    Stephanie Schriock: The Wisconsin Fight: Bridging Women, Labor and the Progressive Movement Stephanie Schriock 2011

  • Other U.K. and European banks, such as Credit Suisse Group , UBS AG and Lloyds Banking Group PLC, have also announced job cuts recently, as higher regulatory costs bite into their profits and amid a slump in revenue from bread-and-butter activities such as fixed-income trading.

    HSBC Strategy Shift Cuts Jobs, Branches Sara Schaefer Muñoz 2011

  • I'm not crazy about bread-and-butter anything, but I'll have to try this with regular pickled jalapenos!

    Texas potato salad, what is it? | Homesick Texan Homesick Texan 2009

  • Fannie, by contrast, loosened its standards for its bread-and-butter business of stamping a guarantee on mortgages that were bundled and sold to investors as securities.

    Freddie Says Loss Narrows Nick Timiraos 2011

  • Its signature M-ATV is now nearing the end of a hugely profitable production run, and its new bread-and-butter military vehicle, the F-MTV, has failed to turn a profit.

    Insight: Wisconsin clash spotlights U.S. labor-management rift Reuters 2011

  • As I said then, I didn't want to be distracted by interesting but extraneous issues of global finance, focusing instead on the bread-and-butter of stock investing: revenue and earnings.

    It's Time to Focus on Revenues James B. Stewart 2011

  • Its signature M-ATV is now nearing the end of a hugely profitable production run, and its new bread-and-butter military vehicle, the F-MTV, has failed to turn a profit.

    Insight: Wisconsin clash spotlights U.S. labor-management rift Reuters 2011

  • They are the bread-and-butter novels I can't wait to sell, the books people talk about all year long, the books they buy for their sisters and fathers, the book they press into the hands of friends with insistent, almost violent exhortations.

    Cutting For Stone: Summary and book reviews of Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese. 2009

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