put butter on one's bread

verb

To earn money.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

verbput butter on one's bread (third-person singular simple present puts butter on one's bread, present participle putting butter on one's bread, simple past and past participle put butter on one's bread)

present singular third person puts butter on one's bread · participle present putting butter on one's bread

  1. idiomaticinformalTo earn money.

    "Well, it won't put butter on our bread," said another.

    1933, Ishbel Ross, Marriage in Gotham, page 71
    3 more examples

    An author has the obligation of keeping himself alive, and it does not put any butter on his bread to get his books from the public library.

    1934, America - Volume 50, page 282

    D'ye think those savages who've been putting butter on our bread are coming to trade with you or me if we are not ready to sell at a loss?

    1947, Soviet Literature, page 8

    This situation isn't putting any butter on our bread, either.

    1998, Dana Stabenow, Killing Grounds, →ISBN, page 80
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see put, butter, bread.
Cite this entry
APA

put butter on one's bread. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/put%20butter%20on%20one's%20bread

MLA

“put butter on one's bread.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/put%20butter%20on%20one's%20bread. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “put butter on one's bread,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/put%20butter%20on%20one's%20bread.

Source: put butter on one's bread on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.