a basic means of support; source of livelihood; sustenance:
The automobile industry is the bread and butter of many Detroiters.
Origin
1620-30
bread-and-butter
[bred-n-buht-er] /ˈbrɛd nˈbʌt ər/
adjective
1.
providing a livelihood or basic source of income; supplying the basic needs of life:
a bread-and-butter job; the agency's bread-and-butter account.
2.
of or pertaining to basic needs:
housing and other bread-and-butter political issues.
3.
basic or everyday; staple; routine.
4.
expressing thanks for hospitality:
a bread-and-butter letter.
Origin
1720-30; adj. use of noun phrase bread and butter
Examples from the web for bread and butter
Since that time, doing research has been my daily bread and butter.
And to go with all the vegetable-centric dishes we've been dreaming up, we've gotta have good bread and butter.
It might create a panic too, but human chaos is their bread and butter.
Bees' bread and butter is flowers-there's no reason they should be able to distinguish human faces.
Pediatric neurosurgeons can't get away from this operation, because it's their bread and butter.
It is the one thing that they talk of, for it is their bread and butter.
As soon as the hymn was finished, the daughters of the house brought in tea and bread and butter.
My plays were bringing in enough for the bread and butter.
Before, the blogging and feature-writing were all leisure-time activities, and they're now my bread and butter.
Gravity wave astronomers suspect such events may turn out to be the bread and butter of their trade.
British Dictionary definitions for bread and butter
bread and butter
noun
1.
(modifier) a means of support or subsistence; livelihood: the inheritance was their bread and butter
2.
bread-and-butter
providing a basic means of subsistence: a bread-and-butter job
solid, reliable, or practical: a bread-and-butter player
expressing gratitude, as for hospitality (esp in the phrase bread-and-butter letter)
Slang definitions & phrases for bread and butter
bread and butter
modifier
: a routine, bread-andbutter type of case
noun phrase
The simple necessities of life; asi needs (mid-1735+)
Idioms and Phrases with bread and butter
bread and butter
.
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 ]
.
Means of livelihood, as in John's job is the family's bread and butter. [ First half of 1700s ]
.
Ordinary, routine, as in Don't worry about it; this is just a bread and butter assignment. [ Second half of 1800s ]