Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wiktionary
a. 1 (&lit bread and butter English) 2 Relating to basic sustenance or the requirements for everyday living for the masses. interj. 1 (context archaic English) A general saying used to ward off bad luck 2 (context archaic English) A saying specifically used to ward off bad luck when separating hands to walk either side of a tree
Usage examples of "bread-and-butter".
And he further reflected, with an amused chuckle, that she would be vividly reminded of Comus for days to come, when she took her afternoon tea, and saw the bread-and-butter reposing in an unaccustomed dish.
Back to the matter at hand, sending his bread-and-butter thank-you shipments to First Base.
No overt connection with the local residency, no involvement in bread-and-butter operations, no coat-trailing, no talent-spotting, a good solid cover job.
It held bread-and-butter and sausage, doughnuts and apples, and four delicious apple-turnovers, their plump crusts filled with melting slices of apple and spicy brown juice.
There's tradecraft to discuss, there are the useful snippets about goings-on inside the Embassy, which are so handy to the lamplighters in their bread-and-butter surveillance operations against the residency.
It's mulligan stew if you want to fix the daily, and I've a mind to make bread-and-butter pudding, so you can add that as well.