bread-line

A long bread-line forms outside the community center.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A queue of people waiting to receive food: "bread-line" refers to a line of people, typically those who are unemployed or impoverished, who wait to receive free food or charitable provisions.

Usage Examples

• (A queue of desperate people waiting for free food.)
• (An organized line for distributing food to the needy.)

Advanced Usage

• "on the bread-line": living in extreme poverty or near the threshold of destitution.
  • After losing his job, he was on the bread-line for months. (He was barely able to afford basic necessities.)

Variants and Related Words

• Breadline (n): an alternative spelling of "bread-line", meaning the same thing.

  • The government's welfare programs helped keep families above the breadline. (Above the level of extreme poverty.)

• Breadwinner (n): a person who earns money to support a family (related by the concept of "bread" as a basic need).

  • She is the sole breadwinner in her household. (She is the only one who works and earns money.)

Synonyms

• Food queue: a line of people waiting for food.
• Soup line: a queue for free soup or meals (historical term).

Related Idioms

• "Bread and butter": one's main source of income or livelihood.

  • Teaching is his bread and butter. (It is how he earns a living.)

• "Bread upon the waters": a good deed done without expectation of return (from biblical idiom).

  • Donating to the food bank is like casting bread upon the waters. (A generous act that may bring future rewards.)

Phrasal Verbs

• None directly associated with "bread-line".