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breadline. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
breadline, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
breadline in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
breadline you have here. The definition of the word
breadline will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
breadline, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From bread + line.
Noun
breadline (plural breadlines)
- A line of people waiting to receive food from a charity.
1975, Alex Baskin, The Unemployed (1930-1932), page 4:I do not think anyone of us can walk by a breadline and see even the most unkempt and raggedy man in the line without saying to himself, "There but for the grace of God."
2010, Jan Goggans, California on the Breadlines, page 183:Breadlines and social agencies, while staffing women, employed more men and served more men, making women a minority in the visual landscape.
- (figurative) Subsistence level.
2004, Toby Bishop, Cry Havoc, page 4:It hurt him to see other good ex-servicemen working their socks off and making no-gooders comfortable while they remained just over the breadline.
2015, Gail Brooking, Coping With Change:It changed her. Having lived below the breadline, having lived with excess, was it about to change once more?
2020, Bernard Knight, Lost Prophecies, page 357:For poor people that takes them near the breadline, but they still do it.
Derived terms
Translations
line for food from charity
See also
Anagrams