bacon
/ˈbeɪk(ə)n
/noun [mass noun]
Cured meat from the back or sides of a pig: crisp rashers of bacon [as modifier]: a bacon sandwich...
- I would seal them in hot fat, wrap each bird in fatty bacon or pancetta and roast till tender.
- Cooper sighed and carried two plates of bacon, eggs and sausage on toast to the table.
- In Ireland, badgers have been eaten and cured in much the same way as we now cure bacon.
Phrases
bring home the bacon
save someone's bacon
Origin
Middle English: from Old French, from a Germanic word meaning 'ham, flitch'; related to back.
The word bacon was adopted from French in the 14th century and can be traced back to an ancient German root that links it to back, probably in the sense of the cut of meat. In early use it could mean fresh pork, as well as cured, and could also refer to a pig's carcass. To bring home the bacon, ‘to supply food or support’, first appeared in the USA during the early years of the 20th century. It may have developed from to save one's bacon (‘to escape danger or difficulty’), an older expression which dates from the mid 17th century.