bread

1 of 2

noun

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 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).

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
Inspectors observed an employee crack an egg with gloves and then proceed to touch bread without washing their hands. Jacqueline Pinedo, Sacramento Bee, 22 Mar. 2024 The chef serves them hot from the oven, sprinkled with sea salt and three to a small cast-iron pan, which is too few for those who like to use bread to enjoy the remains of dressings or sauces. Tom Sietsema, Washington Post, 22 Mar. 2024 Take, for example, refined grains like white bread or rice. Jenna Birch, Health, 22 Mar. 2024 The ship's galley staff cooks roughly 5,000 pounds of whole chicken, grills around 5,000 pounds of strip steak and bakes approximately 600 loaves of bread every week. Nathan Diller, USA TODAY, 21 Mar. 2024 Get The Recipe 09 of 35 No-Knead Buttermilk Bread Your Dutch oven will allow this bread to come together with no kneading required. Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 20 Mar. 2024 But, of course, that landscape has also evolved, shaped by Iceland’s accessible resources (like the abundant geothermal energy harnessed to bake hot spring bread) and its stand-out local ingredients. Regan Stephens, Travel + Leisure, 14 Mar. 2024 Otherwise, fresh breads, buns and wraps will last up to 14 days while thin and crispy pizza crusts last six months due to airtight packaging. Journal Sentinel, 14 Mar. 2024 Curiosities Bread and cheese are among the best culinary pairings, but perhaps not when the bread in question is 8,600 years old and the cheese is known for its pungent aroma. Ashley Strickland, CNN, 10 Mar. 2024
Verb
To walk into the spice shop and discover what fenugreek is or to go to the Arab Women’s Union that my grandmother was one of the founders of and buy some of these delicious spinach breads to eat while exploring the town. Anastasia Miari, Condé Nast Traveler, 5 Mar. 2024 Calabash-style seafood is lightly breaded right off the boat, and there are plenty of restaurants featuring the local fare. Tracey Minkin, Southern Living, 1 Mar. 2024 Also expect to find typical boneless chicken wings ($9.95), breaded, fried and tossed in one of three possible sauces. James Patrick Kelly, Idaho Statesman, 31 Jan. 2024 Its large chicken tenders are first brined, then breaded, fried, and spiced. Susan Selasky, Detroit Free Press, 8 Jan. 2024 In another heretical post, Lee deep fries a whole fresh black truffle after submerging it in an egg wash and breading it with Shake ‘N Bake. Adam Reiner, Bon Appétit, 6 Jan. 2024 In short order, Pandya, who's been eating here since high school, filled our table with seafood dishes swimming in red gravy or delicately breaded and fried, like bombil fry, or Bombay duck, as the fish is known in local parlance (and yes, it has since been added to Dhamaka's menu). Alex Bhattacharji, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Dec. 2023 The golden rounds come with lemon creme fraiche for dunking and are breaded in rice flour, hence gluten-free. Tom Sietsema, Washington Post, 24 Nov. 2023 Active Time: 1 hr 25 mins Total Time: 1 hr 25 mins Servings: 4 A staple of Italian cuisine, arancini are risotto balls that are breaded and fried. Southern Living Test Kitchen, Southern Living, 6 Oct. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bread.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of bread was before the 12th century

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Dictionary Entries Near bread

Cite this Entry

“Bread.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bread. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

bread

1 of 2 noun
1
: a baked food made of flour or meal
2
3
slang : money sense 1a

bread

2 of 2 verb
: to cover with bread crumbs
breaded pork chops

More from Merriam-Webster on bread

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