Idiom
staff of life
Meaning
Bread or some other staple foodstuff.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Bread is often called the staff of life.”
“In many cultures, people rely on grain as the staff of life to survive.”
“During the long winter months, the village families depended on their stored potatoes as their primary staff of life when other crops failed to grow.”
“Throughout human history, the humble loaf has served as the staff of life for civilizations across the globe.”
Examples
simple
“Bread is often called the staff of life.”
contextual
“In many cultures, people rely on grain as the staff of life to survive.”
“During the long winter months, the village families depended on their stored potatoes as their primary staff of life when other crops failed to grow.”
complex
“Throughout human history, the humble loaf has served as the staff of life for civilizations across the globe.”
Origin
By extension from the Biblical phrase “break the staff of bread” (Hebrew מַטֶּה לֶחֶם (maté lékhem)), staff (“long, straight rod”) in this context meaning something that acts as a support: see, for example, Leviticus 26:26 (King James Version; spelling modernized): “And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied”; and Ezekiel 4:16: “[…] Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care, and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment: […]”. Compare Egyptian ḫt n ꜥnḫ (“grain; food”, literally “stick or wood of life”).
Key words
Related idioms
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