What does ‘bring home the bacon’ mean?
To “bring home the bacon” means to earn a living; succeed. A modern American idiom; the popular Dunmow flitch story (a side of bacon awarded to a couple who never quarrelled) is discussed in Brewer's but is not the direct source of this 20th-century financial sense.
Origin
- A modern American idiom; the popular Dunmow flitch story (a side of bacon awarded to a couple who never quarrelled) is discussed in Brewer's but is not the direct source of this 20th-century financial sense.
How to use it
- Common in casual talk about earning.
- Example: She's the one who brings home the bacon.
Source:
Last verified: 2026-07-18
- Definitions and origins are drawn from public-domain reference works, primarily Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898), with modern usage notes clearly marked.