Meaning

2 senses

  1. (archaic)A general saying used to ward off bad luck

  2. (archaic)A saying specifically used to ward off bad luck when separating hands to walk either side of a tree

Origin

Reflecting that bread and butter are archetypally basic foodstuffs (daily necessities) in

Reflecting that bread and butter are archetypally basic foodstuffs (daily necessities) in the places where the English language developed; compare daily bread, put bread on the table, earn one's bread, bread and water (as prisoners' diet or poverty diet), and know which side one's bread is buttered on.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Word family

5 related words
Relatedbread-and-butter issuebread-and-butter letterbread-and-butter notebread-and-butter picklebread-and-butter plate

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
breachbreadA1breadbasketbreadcrumbbreadfruit
bread-and-butter — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto