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bread definition

bread (bred)

noun

    1. a food baked from a leavened, kneaded dough made with flour or meal, water, yeast, etc.
    2. a similar food, as matzo, that is not leavened and so remains flat when baked
  1. any baked food like bread but made with a batter quick breads, corn bread
  2. food generally
  3. the means of living; livelihood to earn one's bread
  4. Slang money

Etymology: ME bred < OE bread, crumb, morsel < IE *bhreu-, var. of *bhereu-, to ferment < base *bher-, well up, seethe > brew, burn, L fervere, to boil

transitive verb

to cover with bread crumbs before cooking
bread Idioms

bread and butter

one's means of subsistence; livelihood

break bread

to partake of food; eat

cast one's bread upon the waters

to be generous or do good deeds without expecting something in return

know which side one's bread is buttered on

to know what is to one's advantage and from what source it comes

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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