break bread
To eat a meal, especially to eat a shared meal with friends, family, guests, etc.; to be in fellowship with others by eating with them.
Verb
- To eat a meal, especially to eat a shared meal with friends, family, guests, etc.; to be in fellowship with others by eating with them.
- The knight swore he would not break bread in the castle again until he received reparation for the insult.
- And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King...
- At last it was decided that he should take her, reaching the place about the hour of lunch, so that he might again break bread in her father's house. - 1879, Anthony Trollope, chapter 63, in John Caldigate:
- To take part in Holy Communion.
- In baptism we make covenant; in communion we renew covenant week by week. . . . After offering prayers of thanksgiving, together we break bread and drink from the cup. - 1979, Ronald E. Osborn, The Faith We Affirm,...
Origin
Inherited from Middle English breken bred; under medieval conditions, guests brought their own knives worn with them, which were their daggers they hunted and gathered with, then only fit to cut meat. From the expression “break bread with friends” the ellipsis “break bread” implying community developed.