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The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms » break bread
break bread
break bread idiom
Have a meal, eat. For example, It's hard to remain enemies when you've broken bread together. This term occurs in numerous places in the New Testament, where it sometimes means to share bread and other times to distribute food to others. In later usage it came to refer to the sacramental bread of Communion in Christian services. The latter survives in the spiritual hymn, “Let Us Break Bread Together.” [1300s]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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