bread

Phrases

be the best (or greatest) thing since sliced bread

informal be very good:they think that she is the greatest thing since sliced bread

bread and circuses

entertainment or political policies used to keep the mass of people happy and docile: with football and politics as the bread and circuses of our decadent empire, whither religion?

[translating Latin panem et circenses (Juvenal's Satires, x.80)]

bread and water

a frugal diet that is eaten in poverty, chosen in abstinence, or given as a punishment: he could be put on bread and water for forty-eight hours

bread and wine

the consecrated elements used in the celebration of the Eucharist; the sacrament of the Eucharist: he rejected the idea of any physical presence of Christ in the bread and wine

the bread of life

a source of spiritual nourishment: the Roman Catholic Church and faith were the bread of life to the subordinate classes

break bread

celebrate the Eucharist: as we gathered to break bread, a sense of thanksgiving ran through us

dated share a meal with someone: Donald’s staying to break bread with us

one cannot live by bread alone

people have spiritual as well as physical needs: we cannot live by bread alone, but it helps

[with biblical allusion to Deut. 8:3, Matt. 4:4]

cast one's bread upon the waters

do good without expecting gratitude or reward: if you don’t cast your bread upon the waters, it won’t come back to you when you need it most

[with biblical allusion to Eccles. 11:1]

one's daily bread

the money or food that one needs in order to live:she earned her daily bread by working long hours

know which side one's bread is buttered (on)

informal know where one’s advantage lies: middle-class people who know which side their bread is buttered

take the bread out of (or from) people's mouths

deprive people of their livings by competition or unfair working practices: he declared it would be better to get fair wages than see the bread taken out of our mouths

want one's bread buttered on both sides

informal want more than is practicable or than is reasonable to expect: the play wants its bread buttered on both sides