to break bread
14
3.9
- phrasal verb
- /breɪk brɛd/
- Informal
:
compartir la comida
- You sat down to a meal with the man and broke bread with him?
- break bread together
- break bread with family
- break bread with friends
And I think that'd be a great place for us to to break bread.
- And I think that'd be a great place for us to to break bread.
- So those are the people we have to sit across the table from break bread and share coffee, right?
Examples
-
I thought you came to break bread over 1,000 days.
-
And I just can't wait to break bread with you one day.
-
So those are the people we have to sit across the table from break bread and share coffee, right?
-
I was more than willing to break bread with you.
-
We must break bread together.
-
Let's break bread together tonight, come in.
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...now that we sat nice, broke bread together, shared a glass of wine, I feel I know you a little.
-
We broke bread together.
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And when you do return, we shall rejoice in the streets and break bread and drink wine, in moderation.
-
Let's break bread together tonight to celebrate our friendship.
Synonyms
To share bread and salt to show friendship and trust
To eat dinner with other people
How Social
31
2.3
- Informal
14
3.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
break + bread
The literal action 'break' + 'bread' readily evokes eating and could lead a learner to guess something about food, but the conventionalized sense of 'sharing a meal' or 'fostering community' is cultural and somewhat figurative. Because the social/ritual meaning is not fully predictable from the parts without prior exposure, it is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Break bread comes from the simple, literal act of breaking a loaf of bread so people could share pieces at the same table. One popular story says families and church groups would do this to eat together, so the phrase now means 'to share a meal' and show 'friendship' or 'community'.