staff of life

n. pl. staves of life or staffs of life A staple or necessary food, especially bread.

staff′ of life′

n. bread, considered as the mainstay of the human diet. [1630–40]

Thesaurus

Noun

staff of life - food made from dough of flour or meal and usually raised with yeast or baking powder and then bakedbread, breadstuffstarches - foodstuff rich in natural starch (especially potatoes, rice, bread)flour - fine powdery foodstuff obtained by grinding and sifting the meal of a cereal grainbaked goods - foods (like breads and cakes and pastries) that are cooked in an ovenanadama bread - a yeast-raised bread made of white flour and cornmeal and molassesbap - a small loaf or roll of soft breadbarmbrack - a rich currant cake or bunbreadstick, bread-stick - a crisp stick-shaped roll; often served with soupBoston brown bread, brown bread - dark steamed bread made of cornmeal wheat and flour with molasses and soda and milk or waterbun, roll - small rounded bread either plain or sweetcaraway seed bread - bread containing caraway seedschallah, hallah - (Judaism) a loaf of white bread containing eggs and leavened with yeast; often formed into braided loaves and glazed with eggs before bakingcinnamon bread - bread flavored with cinnamon often containing raisinscracked-wheat bread - bread made with cracked wheat that has been ground finecracker - a thin crisp wafer made of flour and water with or without leavening and shortening; unsweetened or semisweetcrouton - a small piece of toasted or fried bread; served in soup or saladsbrown bread, dark bread, whole meal bread, whole wheat bread - bread made with whole wheat flourEnglish muffin - round, raised muffin cooked on a griddle; usually split and toasted before being eatenflatbread - any of various breads made from usually unleavened doughgarlic bread - French or Italian bread sliced and spread with garlic butter then crisped in the ovengluten bread - bread made with gluten flourHost - a technical name for the bread used in the service of Mass or Holy Communionloaf, loaf of bread - a shaped mass of baked bread that is usually sliced before eatingmatzah, matzo, matzoh, unleavened bread - brittle flat bread eaten at Passovernaan, nan - leavened bread baked in a clay oven in India; usually shaped like a teardroponion bread - bread containing finely minced onionsraisin bread - bread containing raisinsquick bread - breads made with a leavening agent that permits immediate bakingrye bread - any of various breads made entirely or partly with rye floursalt-rising bread - white wheat bread raised by a salt-tolerant bacterium in a mixture of salt and either cornmeal or potato pulpsimnel - a crisp bread of fine white floursour bread, sourdough bread - made with a starter of a small amount of dough in which fermentation is activetoast - slices of bread that have been toastedwafer - thin disk of unleavened bread used in a religious service (especially in the celebration of the Eucharist)light bread, white bread - bread made with finely ground and usually bleached wheat floursandwich - two (or more) slices of bread with a filling between them

staff of life

the staff of life

Some critical necessity or basic staple. Said especially of staple foods like bread or rice. We want our employees to know that respectful discussion and debate are the staff of life around here. The widespread infection of potatoes—the staff of life in Ireland at the time—caused a nationwide famine that killed over a million people.See also: life, of, staff

staff of life

A staple or necessary food, especially bread. For example, Rice is the staff of life for a majority of the earth's people. This expression, which uses staff in the sense of "a support," was first recorded in 1638. See also: life, of, staff

the ˌstaff of ˈlife

(literary) a basic food, especially breadSee also: life, of, staff

staff of life, the

Bread; sometimes, by extension, any essential food. Understandably this term originated in the Bible (“the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread,” Isaiah 3:1). However, it was not until the eighteenth century that the staff of life was definitively identified with bread (prior to that it had often been corn, the British term for wheat). “Bread, dear brothers, is the staff of life,” wrote Jonathan Swift (A Tale of a Tub, 1704), and so it has remained.See also: of, staff

staff of life

staff of life

staff′ of life′

staff of life

the staff of life

staff of life

the ˌstaff of ˈlife

staff of life, the

staff of life

Synonyms for staff of life

noun food made from dough of flour or meal and usually raised with yeast or baking powder and then baked

Synonyms

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