Synonyms for break bread
| Grammar : Verb |
| Spell : bred |
| Phonetic Transcription : brɛd |
Définition of break bread
Origin :- Old English bread "bit, crumb, morsel; bread," cognate with Old Norse brauð, Danish brød, Old Frisian brad, Middle Dutch brot, Dutch brood, German Brot. According to one theory [Watkins, etc.] from Proto-Germanic *brautham, which would be from the root of brew (v.) and refer to the leavening.
- But OED argues at some length for the basic sense being not "cooked food" but "piece of food," and the Old English word deriving from a Proto-Germanic *braudsmon- "fragments, bits" (cf. Old High German brosma "crumb," Old English breotan "to break in pieces") and being related to the root of break (v.). It cites Slovenian kruh "bread," literally "a piece."
- Either way, by c.1200 it had replaced the usual Old English word for "bread," which was hlaf (see loaf (n.)). Slang meaning "money" dates from 1940s, but cf. breadwinner. Bread-and-butter in the figurative sense of "basic needs" is from 1732. Bread and circuses (1914) is from Latin, in reference to food and entertainment provided by governments to keep the populace happy. "Duas tantum res anxius optat, Panem et circenses" [Juvenal, Sat. x.80].
- verb have a meal
- A testimony is thus given that all who break bread are church members.
- Extract from : « George Muller of Bristol » by Arthur T. Pierson
- "Brother, I will go in and break bread and eat salt with thee," he said.
- Extract from : « Cleek, the Master Detective » by Thomas W. Hanshew
- Bless you, yes—come down at once and break bread with me—I'll wait.
- Extract from : « Dreamy Hollow » by Sumner Charles Britton
- What fingers of the hand to eat with, what hand to break bread with—and so on and so forth.
- Extract from : « Black Man's Burden » by Dallas McCord Reynolds
- Or don't you want to break bread with me, under the circumstances?
- Extract from : « The Ego Machine » by Henry Kuttner
- It would be fitting,” he continued, “that we should break bread together.
- Extract from : « Legends & Romances of Spain » by Lewis Spence
- The members meet on Sundays to “break bread” and discuss the Bible.
- Extract from : « Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 3 » by Various
- She had broken the unwritten law not to break bread with an enemy of her house.
- Extract from : « A Poor Wise Man » by Mary Roberts Rinehart
- Then he invited me to go to his home and break bread with him.
- Extract from : « The Abolitionists » by John F. Hume
- Fifteen persons to greet my landlady on Christmas Day, and not a soul to break bread with me!
- Extract from : « Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. IX.--February, 1851.--Vol. II. » by Various
Words or expressions associated with your search
- abreaction
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- white bread
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- windbreaker
Most wanted synonyms
Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019