bread

1 of 2

noun

ˈbred 

1

: a usually baked and leavened food made of a mixture whose basic constituent is flour or meal

2

: food, sustenance

our daily bread

3

a

: livelihood

earns his bread as a laborer

b

slang : money

bready

ˈbre-dē 

adjective

bread

2 of 2

verb

breaded; breading; breads

transitive verb

: to cover with bread crumbs

Bread the pork chops and place them in the pan.

Phrases

bread upon the waters

: resources risked or charitable deeds performed without expectation of return

Did you know?

Bread is a food consisting of flour or meal that is moistened, kneaded into dough, and often fermented using yeast, and it has been a major sustenance since prehistoric times. With the right ingredients, it can be a source of complex carbohydrates and B vitamins (add whole wheat, and you increase its nutritional value). Through synecdoche, its name rose to refer to any source of food or sustenance. Reference to a path to sustenance followed in the 18th century. "I was under no necessity of seeking my bread," recounts Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. Dough had already been used to refer to money in 19th-century slang and, in a natural extension, bread was served with the same meaning in the jazz and beat slang of the mid-20th century ("Dean just raced in society, eager for bread and love," writes beatnik Jack Kerouac).

Synonyms

Noun

• bucks
• cabbage [slang]
• cash
• change
• chips
• coin
• currency
• dough
• gold
• green
• jack [slang]
• kale [slang]
• legal tender
• lolly [British]
• long green [slang]
• loot
• lucre
• money
• moola [slang]
• moolah
• needful
• pelf
• scratch [slang]
• shekels
• sheqels
• shekelim
• shekalim
• sheqalim
• tender
• wampum

Examples of bread in a Sentence

Noun

She bakes bread every day.

The bakery offers a nice selection of breads and pastries.

Verb

She breaded the pork chops before frying them.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

One of the main courses is a sirloin steak sandwich with pesto sauce, Parmesan cheese, rocket leaves and ciabatta bread, whilst another is alfredo pasta. —Caroline Reid, Forbes, 20 Jan. 2025

The closest anything comes to fusion is the bread service, which pairs New England-style Parker House rolls, fresh from the oven and marshmallow-soft, with a lineup of compound butters, including one, lusciously saffron-infused, inspired by bouillabaisse, the Provençal seafood stew. —Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 19 Jan. 2025

Verb

Use your five-spice blend as a wing rub, as breading for pork cutlets, in a fragrant mix for cocktail peanuts, or any of the abovementioned recipes. —Sarah Jampel, Bon Appétit, 13 Dec. 2024

Viewers will see McCartney feeding seagulls bread out a window, and Harrison drinking a glass of water and strumming on a guitar. —Olivia B. Waxman, TIME, 13 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English breed, from Old English brēad; akin to Old High German brōt bread, Old English brēowan to brew

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

circa 1600, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing bread

• anadama bread
• banana bread
• bread and butter
• bread and circuses
• bread board
• bread crumb
• bread mold
• bread pudding
• break bread
• brown bread
• corn bread
• daily bread
• French bread
• fry bread
• garlic bread
• know which side one's bread is buttered on
• light bread
• quick bread
• rye bread
• Saint John's bread
• soda bread
• spoon bread
• St. John's bread
• the best/greatest thing since sliced bread
• trail of bread crumbs
• wheat bread
• white-bread

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Kids Definition

bread

1 of 2 noun

ˈbred 

1

: a baked food made of flour or meal

2

: food sense 1

3

slang : money sense 1a

bread

2 of 2 verb

: to cover with bread crumbs

breaded pork chops